ALS1: New Beginnings
by Dimitri's.Smexi.Shewolf
Summary: Set after Last Sacrifice. "What if true freedom means sacrificing the most important thing? Each other." After Rose made that Last Sacrifice, she's looking forward to enjoying that freedom. A hunting trip, return to Russia, visit to the Corn Palace, make-ups and a few little surprises are all in Rose's near future. PART 1 in my AFTER LAST SACRIFICE series.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone!  
"What if true freedom means sacrificing the most important thing? Each other."  
After Rose died to protect Lissa and made that Last Sacrifice, things have been looking up. Now, she's looking forward to enjoying that freedom. A hunting trip, return to Russia, visit to the Corn Palace, make-ups and a few little surprises are all in store for Rose, Dimitri and the rest of them.  
This is the first part in my After Last Sacrifice series, which will be following the lives of the gang after the last book. Because let's face it- Rose's story is a long way from over.**

**IMPORTANT!  
The ALS series will be made up of stories of varying lengths, from a couple of chapters to over 70,000 words. To make it easier to keep the series in order, I'll name the long stories AlS '1, 2, 3' etc, and the shorter ones will be ALS '1.5, 2.5, 2.75' etc. This way I can go back and add a short story (if I happen to think of another one) where it needs to be without changing any of the other names.  
For example, I already have 3 long stories nearly finished, and 2 shorter ones in-between.**

**ROSE: "Hey, stop rambling and get on with the story!"  
ME: "Well excuse me. I was just trying to explain what was going on. If you're so impatient, you can do the disclaimer yourself!"  
ROSE: "Whatever. Dimitri' .Shewolf does not own anything. All credit goes to Richelle Mead."**

**And with that, I end this incredibly long Author's Note. At least there's a long chapter to make up for it :D**

* * *

"Ow!"  
I fell on my ass, and quickly glanced around to see if anyone had seen me fall. Only Dimitri.

"Are you okay, Rose?" He asked, concern written all over his perfect face.

I nodded. "Yep, just some hurt pride."  
I stood up shakily, ignoring his outstretched hand- and the sharp pain in my chest.

It was a month after Lissa's coronation, and I had been on active Guarding duty for the last 2 weeks, though that had only entailed standing around watching Lissa go about her new Queenly business. Fortunately there had been no trouble, as I wouldn't have been much help.

This was my first actual combat session since being shot, as Dimitri and I both had some free time today, and Guardians were expected to keep their training up. It was painfully (literally) obvious that I was not ready for a fight if a threat arose.

"This is ridiculous. I feel like we're back at the academy, and I haven't trained in 2 years." I grumbled.

"Rose, even though you wounds have nearly healed, your body has been under a lot of stress to do that. You can't expect to be up to your usual standard."

"Well, I'm sure any Strigoi that come for Lissa will totally understand that, and go easy on me." I snapped.  
I felt a little bad afterwards, but I _had_ been under a lot of stress lately, plus my chest hurt.

Dimitri realised this, and didn't seem fazed by my bitchiness.

Instead, he stepped towards me and took my hand.  
"I know, Roza. I didn't mean that. But you can't deny that your body needs more time to recover. You barely survived, and no one expects you to even be on duty yet, especially without accepting Lissa's healings."

I sighed. I hadn't let Lissa heal me as now that the bond was gone, I couldn't take the darkness from her anymore, so the risk of darkness was greater, and now she had the responsibility and stress of being Queen, I didn't want to send her over the edge.

I squeezed Dimitri's hand and leaned into him, allowing my exhausted body some respite.  
"I know. I just hate feeling useless. If there was an attack, I wouldn't exactly be much good, would I?"

"Roza, even now you could fight a Strigoi. If Lissa was in danger, I know you'd be fine to protect her."  
Dimitri tilted my chin up, the hint of a smile on his lips.  
"Come on. You need to rest before we go back on duty later. Let's go home and enjoy the rest of our time off."  
How could I refuse?

We walked the short distance across court to where we lived with Lissa and Christian and all their other near-guards.  
Yeah, me, Rose Hathaway, lived in the Royal Palace. Who would have guessed?

We got a couple of 'looks' from the Royals we passed, who still weren't entirely happy with Dimitri and I being together. Well, screw them. The other Guardians didn't care, and neither did the non-Royals. Probably because they didn't have any claim to Guardians anyway.  
With Royals, their safety might come first, but to me, their opinions were still worth shit.

As soon as we were in our apartment, I flopped down on the sofa, laying my head over the arm, and closed my eyes.

I loved this place already. Huge living room, bathroom and bedroom, and a little kitchenette. (Not like I ever cooked anyway. I loved this place; I didn't want to burn it down.)  
And right next door to Lissa's apartment, of course. Hers was a lot bigger, obviously, taking up the whole of the top floor of the Palace building. The Guardian section was in a wing off to one side, which was pretty cool.  
There were 2 adjoining doors that led to her place, one in the living room and one connecting our bedrooms. The one in the bedroom was only for emergencies, in fact it was hidden behind a fake wardrobe, in case a Strigoi could use it as an easy way into either apartment. If it was secret, it was safer. At least that was what the people who built this place said; it was either that or they had a secret obsession with Narnia, and were living in hope of Prince Caspian jumping out of it (Well, I wouldn't complain if he did).

I heard footsteps coming closer. I cracked one eye open to see Dimitri standing in front of me with a glass of water.  
I sat up and he passed it to me. I drank it quickly, not realising how thirsty I was until the cool liquid reached my overheated body.  
"Thanks." I said, before dropping my head back down again. I was so exhausted from only 2 hours of sparring.

I felt Dimitri touch my cheek softly.  
"Does it hurt?" He asked quietly.

"Just a bit." I replied. I opened my eyes into his, to see that he knew I was bullshitting him.  
"Okay, so maybe a bit more that a bit." I conceded.

He frowned. "Roza, you can't just keep pretending like nothing's wrong. You were shot in the heart. Not even you can heal that quickly." His face softened. "I just don't want you to be in pain. There's a reason that it hurts when you exercise. Your body's telling you that it needs more time."

I couldn't even fight back on this logic, because I knew he was right.  
"But what can I do? I know I'm not in any shape to be fighting yet, so that probably means I should let someone else guard Lissa in my place for a bit, because I don't want my weakness to endanger her. But I refuse to spend another day sitting around here doing nothing."

It had been alright for a little while, as I'd been able to unpack our things into our new apartment, but after a week or so everything had been done, Dimitri had been with Christian, who was with Lissa. I hadn't been able to spend time with her, as there was no room for a non-guarding Dhampir in the court business following her coronation.

Dimitri studied me for a moment before crouching in front of me and speaking.  
"We don't have to stay at court. We can take a couple of weeks leave, that should give you enough time to recover fully, and we can take a break. It's been so chaotic here since we got back, and long before then. Maybe actually relaxing will help you get better faster."

I blinked a few times. Dimitri suggesting taking leave and going on vacation? He was right, though. Once Lissa started her fight against the Dhampir age law, there would be no time to relax in between the constant meetings and paperwork. Besides, I wasn't going to turn down a chance to spend some time alone with Dimitri away from the judging eyes at court.  
"We?" I asked.

Dimitri smiled.  
"Of course. I'm not going to let you leave without me. I'd only have to come and help clean up whatever mess you'll no doubt get yourself into anyway."

I resisted the urge to slap him; because he was probably right. I did want to go, and I was pretty sure that it actually would be beneficial to me.  
But I still felt bad about leaving Lissa in such a stressful time for what was basically a vacation, so I tried to find a reason to justify it to myself. Then, I thought of something very important that Dimitri and I still had to do.

"Okay, I'll take some time off and I'll even stay out of trouble, just for you." I promised.  
Dimitri smiled, but before he spoke, I continued.  
"But on one condition."

He looked a bit confused, but let me carry on anyway.  
"We spend at least some of vacation in Russia, visiting your family."

The smile dropped off his face instantly.  
"Roza"- He said, sounding pained, but I cut him off again. We'd had this conversation before, and I sat up and faced him.

"No, Dimitri. You can't expect to let them keep thinking that you're dead. I agree that you can't write or call them in case they don't believe you, but think how they'll feel if they find out from someone else, and you haven't even bothered to tell them? I know it's hard for you, but if I had to tell your mother that her only son had been turned Strigoi, you can tell her that you're alive. She doesn't need to still be in pain for something that isn't even true anymore. She deserves better than that, they all do. They still love you, and miss you like crazy."

Dimitri stayed silent for a moment, and I waited for my words to fully sink in. I'd never been this blunt with him about this before, understanding what he was going through. But now the time had come for him to make a decision.

Suddenly, he reached out and held me close. I hugged him back tightly, knowing that he had come to a decision.  
"You're right, Roza. It isn't fair to let them find out from someone else. And I really miss them too. I want to see them so badly. I just hope they will be as happy to see me as you say they will be."

I pulled back just enough to look him in the eye, and laid one hand on his cheek.  
"Of course they will. They were heartbroken when I told them what had happened, but they were so proud of you, that you'd given your life protecting others."  
I laughed quietly. "And let's face it, Yeva probably knows already. I'm surprised we haven't had an angry letter from her, demanding to know why we didn't go back the moment you were restored."

He laughed too at the thought of his scary grandmother.  
"You're right; she won't be happy. She'll probably slap me with a dishcloth or something when we get there."

I grinned. "That makes two of us. When she told me to go 'do what I had to do', I don't think she meant sneaking out in the middle of the night. I feel so bad that I left without even saying goodbye, especially after everything they did for me. Olena was so kind to me, I never wanted to leave. Then there's Viktoria, and the fact that I'm _Zmey_'s daughter..." I hoped that Vika didn't still hate me.

Dimitri frowned. "What happened with Viktoria? You didn't get along?" He sounded like he didn't believe that.

I shook my head sadly. "No, not that. We got on great, she said I was like her sister, and I really felt like it, but then I tried to help her with something, but she didn't realise that was what I was doing. We had a fight the day before I left, which is why I left at night."

Dimitri smiled sadly.  
"She'll probably have forgiven you before you even left. That's the thing about Vika; stubborn as a mule, but she forgives quickly, and ends up blaming herself."

I rubbed his cheek with my thumb.  
"Just like her brother, then."

Dimitri smiled the brilliant, full smile that could brighten up the rainiest of days, and all the apprehension about whether the Belikovas would be angry with me dissipated as I kissed him.

When we stopped to catch our breath, Dimitri rested his forehead against mine.  
"I love how much you love my family." He whispered.

"It's hard not to. The sweet, caring, easy-to-love thing must be a Belikov thing. Sorry that the same can't be said for my parents."

He laughed. "Well, you definitely got the protectiveness, but it's not nearly as endearing on them."

"Come on Comrade, you're just scared of them. Admit it." I teased.

"Who isn't? Guardian Hathaway and _Zmey_ Mazur are scary enough to anyone. When you're dating their daughter? Yeah, scary doesn't begin to cover them."

I had a classic Rose comment about that, but forgot it when I noticed the time.  
"Shit! We gotta run." I said, shoving my stake back into my belt and standing up, Dimitri doing the same.

5 hours later our shift was over, and I'd even been able to talk to Lissa. She'd agreed that me taking some time off away from Court was probably a good idea, and when I'd told her that we intended on visiting Dimitri's family she'd insisted that we both take as long as we need.  
In the end we'd settled on 2 weeks, which would give us at least 10 days with his family if everything went to plan. We would leave at the end of the week, which would give her enough time to find some replacement Guardians. I'd suggested Eddie as one of them, as he'd been stuck in a filing job since the whole mess with James. If he proved to be a good Guardian to the Queen for a while, then others might consider asking him to be their Guardian in the future. It could only help.

Friday finally rolled around, and I had finished my shift an hour before Dimitri. I was supposed to be packing, but I was probably the worst person for this in the entire world. I either took way too much, or ended up forgetting things. Usually both.

When Dimitri finally walked in the door, I was sitting in a huge pile of clothes and other stuff, with half-filled suitcase on the bed, everything screwed up inside it.  
To his credit, he regarded the scene with merely a raised eyebrow, before coming over to my nest of clothes.

"Need some help there, Rose?" He asked, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh as he noticed how flustered I looked. I threw a balled-up pair of socks at his head, which he caught before they could inflict any damage.

"Just get _this_ into _that_._" _I said with dignity, indicating the debris around me and then the suitcase.  
He nodded, still smirking, and started to re-pack the suitcase, folding everything neatly. I stood up and jumped out of the ring of clothes and went to make lunch.

20 minutes later I came back into our room to see Dimitri just zipping up the second case. He turned around when he heard me enter.

"For someone who was on the run for 2 years, you pack terribly." He commented.

I shrugged. "Lissa did it for me. I just sat on the cases to close them at the end, and carried them around."

Dimitri lifted the cases off the bed and put them over by the door before sitting down next to me.

"So, where are we going tomorrow?" I asked.  
We hadn't been able to book the jet from Court for another 2 days, so we'd have to spend a night in still in the US before flying to Russia.

Dimitri looked down at me, smiling. "What about South Dakota?"

I frowned. "What's in- wait, the Corn Palace!"

He grinned. "Exactly. Do you still want that T-shirt?"

I nodded enthusiastically, and kissed him.

When we finally broke apart, I was the first to speak.  
"That day in the library, I had to keep reminding myself that we were just friends. It felt so good just to be with you again, and I didn't even care that we were running for our lives. I'd have kept running forever, as long as I had you by my side."

"Do you remember I was telling you why I had decided to run with you?" He asked, and I nodded. "Well, there was a reason that I started to say but never did. I was going to tell you that I wanted a chance to make things right between us; that I'd never given up on you."

Let's just say that it was convenient that we were already on the bed, as it was put to good use after that.

* * *

**There you go, people. The first chapter of ALS 1: New Beginnings. Next one will be up soon.  
Please review. Dimitri might take you on holiday ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Finally! Exams are over for now, except for art, so I can spend time writing instead of revising. So here's your chapter, and thanks to the people who reviewed :) You rock.  
**

* * *

**DPOV  
**  
I woke to the sound of an alarm, and reached over to switch it off before Rose threw my phone across the room. She grumbled sleepily as I moved and held me closer, trying to bury her face further into my chest.

I kissed her forehead. "Come on Roza, we have to get up if you want to see Lissa before we go."  
She mumbled something that did not sound complimentary, and I gave in.  
"Well, at least let me go get ready, and you can have another 20 minutes in bed."

She sighed, and loosened her arms just enough for me to slip out of her embrace.

After getting dressed and putting Rose's bags in the car, I went back to drag her out of bed. Unsurprisingly, she had gone back to sleep. Now, I had to start the whole waking up process all over again.

An hour later we said goodbye to Lissa and Christian, and were getting into the car. Lissa was standing on the sidewalk, crying quietly, as Rose promised that she would call every day.

"You'll stay safe, right, Rose? You too, Dimitri."

I nodded solemnly. "Someone's got to keep Rose out of trouble."

I heard Christian laugh. "Never going to happen."

Rose looked indignant. "You make it sound like I attract trouble wherever I go."

"You do." The 3 of us told her.

Roza grinned. "No, I _am_ trouble. And I can't help being so insanely attractive."

I rolled my eyes, and Christian snorted.  
"Yeah, insane, I'll agree with."

Rose ignored him, turning to me.  
"Just drive, Comrade. I'm bored of these people."

I laughed, and Lissa looked offended. Rose turned back to her sympathetically.  
"Not you, Liss. Just Court in general, and your boyfriend specifically."  
Lissa smiled weakly, and Rose took her hand from where it was resting on the open window.

"We'll be fine, Liss. Promise. We'll be back before you know it. Just think of all the good nights' sleep you'll have without those 'bumps in the night' coming from our room."

This made Lissa smile properly, and Christian turned in a circle, whooping, with his fists in the air.  
"Get outta here, Dimitri. Go fulfil all your sexual needs to last a month, and Lissa and I will make the most of the peace and quiet."

I shook my head, but turned the key in the ignition, before leaning over Rose to be closer to the window.  
"We'll be back in about 2 weeks. If there are any problems; call immediately. We can be back in under 12 hours if you need us."

Lissa wiped away a stray tear. "I know. Go, have some quality time together. You've been waiting long enough."

"Bye Lissa, Christian." I said, and shifted into gear.

Roza leaned out the window, waving as we drove away.  
"So long assorted suckers, plus Lissa!" She shouted, just before we turned the corner.  
And then we were on our way.

* * *

A few hours later, we reached South Dakota. Following the signs to the Corn Palace, it wasn't hard to find.

Before long, the brightly coloured structure could be seen up ahead of us.  
Roza was bouncing slightly in her seat in excitement. I smiled at how childish she could be when she got excited. It was so sweet, but of course I'd never tell her that.

The Palace itself really was covered in corn, but dyed different colours to form pictures. The picture in that travel book hadn't done it justice; it was a lot better looking than that. Though, to be fair, that book was probably about 20 years out of date. I doubt the Rubysville library kept up to date with the latest issues.

We got a picture by the big plastic corn figure, and lots outside the palace itself. There were many people willing to take photos, and nearly all wore the same smile as Roza and I stood together, holding hands or with my arm around her waist.

There was no judgement here; in the human world, we were just a young couple in love, with the rest of our lives ahead of us. I wished it could be like this all the time.

Inside the Corn Palace, there was a large auditorium. We sat down and began watching the short film, before looking around at the pictures on the walls. Then, we headed to the gift shop.

Rose went straight to the T-shirts and began flipping through the stack. I reached her just in time to stop a pile from toppling over.  
I joined her in looking for her size, and stopped when I found a small black shirt.

"This one?" I asked, holding it up.

Rose grinned. "What would I do without you?"

By the time we reached the till, I'd got a shirt for myself that matched Rose's- her suggestion- and she'd picked 2 necklaces made of corn kernels- one for her and one for Lissa. She'd also got a handful of caramel apple cobs. I raised an eyebrow at the sight of the food.

"Dimitri, you bring me to a place where food is used as wallpaper. How could I not buy some?"

I just laughed and shook my head, before handing over the money to the cashier.

* * *

We sat outside on one of the benches, eating our cobs.  
"You know what always confuses me?"

I turned to Roza. "What confuses you?"

"Baby corn." She contemplated the corn on the cob she was currently holding. "I mean, is it like young regular corn that just hasn't grown up, is it midget corn that they set apart because it's so tiny, or is it mutant corn that has some weird genetic makeup?"  
She looked up at me, as if I knew the answer.

"Honestly Rose, I don't know. I really never put that much thought into it."

She seemed to accept my answer, and finished off the non-mutant corn in her hands.

**RPOV**

"Hey Dimitri, what do you call the top student in a class full of corn?" I asked.

He looked confused. "Not sure."

I grinned. "The A-corn."

He rolled his eyes. "That was such a 'corny' joke, Roza."

"And that wasn't?" I asked, before remembering another one. "Believe me, I can do better than that."  
I cleared my throat. "A corn cob, a pickle, and a penis were talking about their awful lives. The corn cob said 'my life sucks, because when I get big and fat, they cut me up and cook me.' The pickle said 'my life sucks, because when I get big and fat, the pickle me and stuff me in a jar.' The penis said 'my life sucks, because when I get big and fat, they pull a plastic bag over my head, stick me in a dark, damp room, and bang my head against a wall until I throw up and pass out."

Dimitri groaned. "Who told you that one? I think they may have ruined sex forever."

I smiled brightly. "It was Eddie. And anyway, it can't be that bad, or we wouldn't keep doing it." I winked, and Dimitri rolled his eyes before kissing me. After a few seconds, I spoke against his lips.  
"Besides, I think it will take a lot more than that dodgy joke to keep you off me tonight."

I expected him to at least give one of his famous 'what am I going to do with you' sighs, but I didn't. Instead, he spoke back.

"How is an ear of corn like an army?"

I pulled away. "I don't know."

"It has lots of kernels."

* * *

After a great night in a luxury hotel, where I proved just how inaccurate my previous joke was, we began the drive to the airport.  
We played silly games in the car, like I Spy and Count the Red Cars. It was nice just to relax and mess around without having someone else's life in our hands.

It was a little while after our last game finished that Dimitri spoke.  
"I looked up the baby/midget/mutant corn thing this morning."

"And? What is it?"

"Baby corn. In Asia, they pick it right after the silk of the corn is formed." It was so sweet that he'd looked up that for me.

"Well that's good. It'd be weird if it was just reject normal corn or some mutant freak."

"For someone who eats practically anything and everything, you have some very weird reservations about the origins of your food." Well, he had a point there.

"Okay, so I don't like roadkill bacon or creepy corn. Shoot me." I paused. "Actually, don't. I have enough bullet holes already."

The plane was great. Having a private jet and all was brilliant- no food shortages, not cramped seats, no air hostesses trying to hit on Dimitri. And the fact it was my first time flying since I wasn't shadow kissed made it especially enjoyable- no killer headaches or creepy floating faces. Result.

We watched a couple of films before going to sleep, since we had been travelling all day, and I woke up when the pilot announced we would be landing in half an hour.

I sat up to see that Dimitri was already up and staring out of the window at the land below, which was bathed in a golden morning light.

"It's beautiful." I commented, and I heard Dimitri sigh.

"I missed being here so much- the sights, the sounds, the people. And last time I came, I didn't appreciate any of that. It wasn't like being home at all."

My chest pulled in sympathy for him, and I hugged his arm tightly, resting my head on his shoulder.  
"I know. But you can't dwell on that now. Last time wasn't exactly ideal for either of us, which is why it'll be even better now. We've learned to appreciate the little things, remember? Live each day without letting the past cloud it and all that."

Dimitri turned his head, pressing a kiss into my hair.  
"You're right. Thank you, Roza. I love you."

"Love you too, Dimitri."

When we landed, we explored St. Petersburg for a bit, Dimitri showing me some of his favourite childhood places to visit. I took hundreds of pictures of the beautiful buildings and cathedrals, just like I'd promised Lissa. We got some of Dimitri and I as well.

It was strange, the more places Dimitri took me, the more he seemed to blend into the city itself, and at the same time, stand out to me. Or maybe it wasn't so strange, really. This was his home, and I knew I'd be the same returning to America after a long time.

All too soon, it was time to find a hotel for a night. Even for Guardians like us, the streets weren't safe after dark. We especially didn't want to run into any of Dimitri's old Strigoi buddies that would give us hassle whilst here. Right now, we were just 2 (relatively) normal people, who didn't have to keep one hand on a silver stake ready to attack any evil vampires. Though, obviously, we were prepared to wield said stakes at a moment's notice. We were off-duty, not idiots.

The next morning, we would begin our drive to Baia.

* * *

The closer to the Belikova's house we got, the more nervous Dimitri became. I was feeling some myself, but it was mostly excitement to see them again and to see how they would all react when they were together again. But I was slightly apprehensive. After all I'd promised Dimitri, what if they really didn't accept him? He would be crushed, and I doubted even I could pull him back from that.

When I saw Dimitri's white knuckles on the steering wheel I pushed all thoughts of this out of my head. Of course they would accept him, they would be ecstatic that he was back.  
I reached over and placed a hand lightly over his, and his grip on the steering wheel loosened slightly, only to go right back to how it was when he noticed the sign to Baia just ahead of us.  
We both stayed silent as we drove through the town, past the church, St. Basils Academy, and the market.

We were both lost in the memories of the last time we had been here, and it was a bittersweet moment. The sight of Olena's house up ahead caused the tension to increase even more, and Dimitri pulled over onto the grass a few hundred metres down the road.  
He cut the engine, and took a deep, shaky breath, raking a hand through his loose hair. He didn't tie it back as much anymore, only when he was actively Guarding or sparring.

After a minute, I decided that one of us had to end this silence, and it wasn't going to be him.  
"Dimitri."

He turned to look at me, and I could see the stress clear on his usually guarded features.  
I gently brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes, and gave my most convincing reassuring smile.  
"Dimitri, whatever happens in there, they love you, and I love you. Nothing will ever change that, so you have nothing to worry about."

He caught my hand where it was resting on his cheek and used it to pull me closer. I hugged him tightly, trying my best to reassure him.

When he pulled back, I kissed him sweetly on the lips, before putting my hands on either side of his face.  
"They're going to be so happy to see you, Comrade. There's no way they couldn't be. Give it an hour, and they'll be telling me even more embarrassing stories about baby Dimka and his Barbie brides."

He smiled slightly, and I knew he would be okay now.  
"I know, Roza. Thank you for making me do this. I love you."

It was now or never.

* * *

**Hope I managed to do that justice. Next chapter will have the Belikova reunion :D**

**Crazy Moment: When doing our ICT coursework, we had to create a database for a school trip containing student records. I used all the VA gang's first names – introducing Lissa Icecream, Rose Hard-drive and Dimitri Jellybean. Good times.**

**Review and Dimitri might give you a great night in a luxury hotel ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm back again :) Really long chapter to make up for the wait.**

**This chapter will show the reunion in both Rose and Dimitri's POV, since their thoughts will be very different.**

**Updating in between finishing coursework that had a deadline for Friday, so you've been spared from a long, rambling AN. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Vampire Academy. Richelle Mead does.**

* * *

_He smiled slightly, and I knew he would be okay now.  
"I know, Roza. Thank you for making me do this. I love you."_

_It was now or never. _

"Remember the plan. Wait around the back. I love you too."  
I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead, before opening the door and jumping out of the car.

I tried to calm the butterflies currently flying around annoyingly in my stomach as I raised a hand to knock on the door. A tiny part of me wanted to turn and run, but as stole a glance back at Dimitri I knew that I wanted-needed- to do this.

He was parked so that he could still see what was going on in the doorway, but the tinted windows of the SUV would make them think that it was empty and I had driven here alone.  
Taking a deep breath, I knocked loudly on the door before I could chicken out again.

A few seconds later, I could see someone walking towards me through the coloured glass in the door, and I prayed quickly to whoever was listening that it wasn't Viktoria.

The door opened to reveal Olena, and I sent a quick thank you in case anyone was listening.  
"Roza!" She exclaimed, shocked to see me. Within a second I was engulfed in a huge hug, and I returned it wholeheartedly.  
"Olena. I'm sorry I left without saying goodbye."

She let go of me, and I was surprised to see tears shining in her eyes.  
"Oh, we were so worried about you! We heard rumours that you'd gone to Novosibirsk with Denis' group, and when you didn't come back..." She trailed off, putting her hand on my cheek. "After Dimka, I hated to think that something had happened to you."

She was stopped from saying anything else by a shout from upstairs.  
"_Who is it, mama?" _I heard someone call in Russian; one of the few phrases I could actually understand.

Olena choked back a sob before replying.  
"_It's Rose!"_

There was total silence for a few seconds before I heard feet pounding down the stairs, and more coming down the hallway. Suddenly I was almost knocked over by Viktoria crashing into me.

"Roza! I'm so glad you're okay! I'm so sorry about everything I said, my sisters told me about Rolan just after you left, thank you for stopping me that night. And I didn't mean anything I said about you and Dimka; I was just jealous. I didn't mean about you not being my sister, I didn't really want you to go! Please forgive me!"  
She begged, talking at a hundred miles an hour. I held her tight.

"Of course I forgive you, Vika. And I had to leave anyway; it wasn't because of what you said. I had to do what I came to Russia to do in the first place, and I had to get back to Lissa. She was in trouble."  
She pulled away, tears running down her face already. What would they be like later?

Sonya and Karolina took turns embracing me, and Paul ran up and hugged my waist.  
"Aunt Roza! You came back!" I smiled down at the little boy.

"Of course I did, Paul." I ruffled his hair, half surprised by how much he had grown in just a few months. Then again, he had a lot of growing to do to catch up with his uncle.

I looked up as Olena spoke again.  
"Come in Rose, tell us all about Vasilisa. How is she finding being Queen? How's life as a Royal Guardian?"

I let the Belikova women lead me inside; it would give Dimitri an opportunity to get to where he needed to be.  
I smiled at them all.  
"She's doing great. Exhausted and ready to strangle half of the Royals, but great."

I answered a few other questions with the shortest answers possible, until I saw my opportunity.  
"You seem happy." Olena observed after I'd told them about Court life.

What could I say to that? I decided not to beat around the bush, and just dive in at the deep end. That was my usual style, anyway.

"There's something you need to see." I told them; with what I was sure was the biggest shit-eating grin on my face. They all looked confused. "Outside."

They followed me back out into the front garden, which was bathed in afternoon sun, just how I'd hoped it would be. The sunlight would make this easier to believe.

"Wait here." I told them, and disappeared round the corner of the house where I knew Dimitri would be waiting.

"You're up, Comrade." I whispered, taking his hand, and he laced our fingers together.

I made sure that I came around the corner first, still smiling.  
"It's okay." I reassured them, before pulling Dimitri the final step around the corner.

Shock and fear registered on their faces, and Olena's hand flew to her mouth. Sonya held her baby tighter and Viktoria got into a slight protective crouch.

I waited for them to realise that there was no red in his eyes, that he was standing in the sun, that his skin was tanned.

The stillness was shattered when a sharp voice cut through the silence.  
"He's not Strigoi anymore."

With Yeva's announcement, Olena rushed forward and threw her arms around Dimitri's neck, sobbing into his chest as he held her close, but gently, as if she was fragile. I stepped back, wanting to give them space.

Olena reached up and cupped his face in her small hands.  
"Dimka? It really is you. It's really you. My baby came home to me. But how?"

He smiled, and looked over at me with pure love and admiration in his eyes.  
"Roza." He said, like that was enough explanation.

As soon as the word was out of his mouth, I was pulled into a huge hug, squished against Olena and Dimitri. But it was a good kind of squish.

The others unfroze and ran to join in the group hug, and after about 5 tear-filled minutes we broke apart.

Whilst Dimitri's sisters greeted him like their mother had earlier, Olena turned to me.  
"Thank you, Roza. You brought my son home to me, and I will be forever grateful. I knew there was something about you when I first met you; it was easy to see why Dimka fell for you. Now, I truly see how lucky he was to find you. It couldn't have been easy."

I laughed.  
"No, it wasn't. But it worth it. I refused to give up, and it worked."

I felt a hand at the small of my back.  
"Classic Rose solution to a problem. Glare at something long and hard enough and it'll go away eventually."

I turned around and gave Dimitri the evils. "Why are you still here, then?"

The Belikovas laughed, but he just smiled. "It'll take a lot more than that to get rid of me, Roza."

Olena was watching her son with a look of pride and complete happiness, but she stepped aside a moment later to let Yeva through.  
"Well done, Rose. You almost left it too late, but when you actually thought with your heart and mind instead of your fists, you proved yourself."

Then she did something completely unexpected. Yeva Belikova _hugged me. _

"Thank you." She said quietly, before pulling away, all scary witch lady again, but I couldn't resist a Rose quip.

"So I don't have to get Paul to translate for me this time?" I asked innocently.

Yeva glared at me, but I could see a teasing light in her eyes.  
_"We'll see."_ She replied in Russian, before turning to Dimitri.

"Babushka." He greeted her affectionately. Everyone stayed silent, as they had been since Yeva began to speak.

But Dimitri did not get the same greeting as I had.

Yeva pulled a dishcloth out of her pocket and slapped him across the chest with it, hard.  
Dimitri leaned back a fraction.  
"Dimitri Aleksei Belikov!" She shouted in a voice that surely a woman of her age should not have been able to manage.  
"I thought I raised you better than that!"

"You-I- what?" He stuttered.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. How, after growing up with your sisters, your mother and I, did you not learn how to treat a woman right? I'm ashamed of you. I thought I told you not to lie, not to be a coward, and not to make a girl cry!"

She slapped him again with the dishcloth, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at the look of absolute terror on Dimitri's face, though the others were shocked.

"You're lucky that she loves you so much and that she's just about as stubborn as you are, otherwise where would you be right now? Not here, that's for sure! When I saw what happened in that church I felt like flying over to America and slapping some sense into you myself, you stupid boy. It's lucky that Roza has a way of changing fate, not even destiny can make up for you being such a complete fool! Don't do it again!" She finished dramatically, slapping Dimitri with the cloth one more time before walking back into the house, muttering in Russia something about 'men being idiots' and 'not being able to rely on anyone, even family'.

When Dimitri began rubbing the spot on his chest that Yeva had hit repeatedly, I was unable to hold in my laughter anymore.

The stunned looks on the faces of Dimitri's family were replaced by amused smiles of their own as Dimitri himself stood blinking in shock, still reeling from his grandmother's tirade.

"Come on, Comrade. Let's go tell the epic tale of the girl who travelled to the other side of the world and back to change the fate and save the soul of the 'fool' who just got shouted at by his grandma."

The warm glow of happiness surrounded us and was making me feel giddy with my own joy. There was so much love here, and I felt like a part of it.

I took Dimitri's hand and led him inside behind his family, who were laughing and shaking their heads.  
"Also, if you've got any food..." I asked hopefully as we stepped through the door.

* * *

**DPOV**

I sat in the car and watched Roza walk up the steps to the house I had grown up in. I wasn't sure if I called it home anymore.

Rose took a moment to compose herself before knocking, and a few seconds later the door swung open. From the angle I was watching at I couldn't see who it was, until she stepped out of the doorway and threw her arms around Roza.

My heart leapt at seeing my mother again; someone I never thought would see again. They clung to each other, and it was clear just how close they had become over the few weeks Roza had spent here. Death does that, though. Brings people closer together.

Viktoria was the next one out of the house, and I was shocked to see how much she had grown. It was less than 2 years since I'd seen my family, but since then Vika had changed from a sweet, lanky 14-year old to a beautiful woman. I had missed so much.

The rest of my family appeared, taking their turns to greet Roza, and I knew that she really had worked her way into their hearts; just like I always knew she would.

As the women disappeared inside the house, Rose cast a quick glance back at me. I took this as the signal, and stepped out of the car, closing the door quietly behind me.  
Sticking to the late afternoon shadows, I made my way round to the side of the house, leaning against the wall, and let the memories flood my mind.

10 minutes later, I heard the front door open again and Roza came around the corner. **  
**"You're up, Comrade." she whispered, and took my hand. I laced my fingers through hers, and she squeezed back in return. Then she stepped just around the corner.

"It's okay." Roza said, and gently tugged me forward, into the sunlight, into the full view of my family.

I cringed inwardly at the looks of shock and fear on their faces, and it was like a knife to my heart when Vika got into a defensive crouch; I was supposed to protect her from the monsters, not be one myself.

After what seemed like an age of crushing silence, a voice that no one would dare to argue with cut through.  
"He's not Strigoi anymore."  
After this reassurance from Yeva, my mother rushed forward and crashed into me, holding me so tight that my back clicked. But I barely noticed, for a moment I felt completely safe and loved in my mother's arms, and I felt like a child again.

I clung to her as she sobbed into my chest, and there were tears in my own eyes as I listened to the barely intelligible words she murmured to me.  
"_My baby_ _Dimka, my little boy. My sweet little boy's alive. I missed you so much, baby."_

After a minute, she lifted her head and put her hands on either side of my face.  
"Dimka? It really is you. It's really you. My baby came home to me. But how?"

With the biggest smile on my face, I looked over to where Roza stood a few feet away, the sweetest expression on her face, like seeing this was the best thing she could ever see.  
"Roza." I said by way of explanation, unsure if my voice would hold if I attempted to say anything else.  
Mama noticed that Roza was standing back to give us space, but instantly pulled her into our hug. I wrapped my arms around both of them, more tears filling my eyes.

A moment later, more arms wrapped around me as my sisters joined in the hug. We stood like that for about 5 minutes, and I let myself just be happy that all the people who mattered most were safe and close to me.

When we broke apart, mama spoke to Roza and each of my sisters welcomed me back, giving me teary smiles and bone-crushing hugs.

Once they'd finished, I listened in on what mama was saying to Rose.

"Thank you, Roza. You brought my son home to me, and I will be forever grateful. I knew there was something about you when I first met you; it was easy to see why Dimka fell for you. Now, I truly see how lucky he was to find you. It couldn't have been easy."

"No, it wasn't. But it worth it. I refused to give up, and it worked."

I walked up behind Roza and placed a hand at the small of her back.  
"Classic Rose solution to a problem. Glare at something long and hard enough and it'll go away eventually."

She turned and gave me her best aforementioned glare. "Why are you still here, then?"

My family laughed, but I just grinned. "It'll take a lot more than that to get rid of me, Roza."

The carefree mood changed to something more serious as Yeva pushed her way through.  
"Well done, Rose. You almost left it too late, but when you actually thought with your heart and mind instead of your fists, you proved yourself."

I half expected Roza to get irritated at Yeva, but anything she might have said was lost as my scary, psychic grandmother pulled Rose into her surprisingly strong arms. In true Rose style, she hid her shock with a joke.  
"So I don't have to get Paul to translate for me this time?"

I expected babushka to answer with an equally sarcastic comeback, or at least ignore her. But she replied to Rose, her voice almost teasing.  
_"We'll see."_

She turned to me.  
"Babushka." I greeted her, noticing that she hadn't aged since I'd last seen her, with the half-smile still on her face.  
This dropped as she scrutinised me, and the Guardian mask that I was so famous for covered her features.

Before I could react, she pulled a dishcloth out of her pocket and slapped it across my chest, a look of anger colouring her face.  
"Dimitri Aleksei Belikov!" As soon as she said that, I was an 11 year old boy again, caught doing something naughty. My family rarely even called me Dimitri, and when they used my full name, I knew I was in serious trouble.  
"I thought I raised you better than that!"

"You-I- what?" I stuttered, unable to think straight under her accusing gaze.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. How, after growing up with your sisters, your mother and I, did you not learn how to treat a woman right? I'm ashamed of you. I thought I told you not to lie, not to be a coward, and not to make a girl cry!"

I hung my head in shame, thinking her tirade was over. But the cloth snapped out again, and hit me exactly where the last strike had.

I looked back up again quickly.  
"You're lucky that she loves you so much and that she's just about as stubborn as you are, otherwise where would you be right now? Not here, that's for sure! When I saw what happened in that church I felt like flying over to America and slapping some sense into you myself, you stupid boy."  
I cringed at the thought of her knowing what I had said. "It's lucky that Roza has a way of changing fate, not even destiny can make up for you being such a complete fool! Don't do it again!" She finished, accenting the finale with one last slap.

Babushka turned on her heel and disappeared back into the house, still insulting me as she went.

Now that she was gone, I realised that my chest really hurt, and rubbed it absent-mindedly.  
I heard someone burst out laughing behind me, and knew before I turned around that it would be Roza. There she was, clutching her stomach and practically crying with laughter. My family were also smiling, but I was still in shock.

When Rose could speak again, she came over to me and linked her arm through mine.  
"Come on, Comrade. Let's go tell the epic tale of the girl who travelled to the other side of the world and back to change the fate and save the soul of the 'fool' who just got shouted at by his grandma."

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't stop myself smiling as Roza led me inside behind Karolina.

"Also, if you've got any food..." Roza asked as we entered the house, and everyone laughed.

It was good to be home.

* * *

**Nyuh! New website layout not kind on my exam-fried brain! **

**Anyways, please review, and you can slap Dimitri with a dishcloth :P**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it took so long to update, I've finally finished my ICT coursework :) Hope you enjoy this chapter x**

* * *

**RPOV**

A little while later, I was sitting on the sofa with a plate of black bread. Yeva sat in one arm chair, Sonya and Karolina on the other sofa, with the kids sitting on their laps. I was sitting next to Dimitri, and Viktoria sat on his other side. We were just waiting for Olena to come in from the kitchen so we could begin telling our story.

She came in just then, and sat down in the free arm chair. Viktoria immediately started bouncing up and down in her seat.  
"Go on, tell us then!" She begged.

I looked to Dimitri. "Where do we start?"  
He shrugged.

"Start at the beginning!" Viktoria shouted.

I frowned. "What, right at the beginning? What you've already heard?" I asked.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. We were all too busy trying not to cry last time to actually enjoy the story, so tell us again. Plus, I want to hear Dimitri's side of the story."

I took a deep breath before starting, speaking dramatically.  
"It was a dark and stormy night, and I awoke with the feeling something was distinctly wrong... I looked out the window, and in the shadows stood a tall, dark figure. Lissa and I ran from the building, but before we could reach our car, we were stopped by Guardians. I tried to fight, but when I tried to hit the leader, he knocked me over. Just before I hit the ground, he caught me."  
I paused dramatically, before continuing in a spaced-out, overly dreamy voice. "And from that moment, all I saw were brown eyes and a cowboy duster."  
Viktoria snorted.

I turned to Dimitri. "Your turn now, Comrade."

He smiled and carried on talking.  
"So there I was, ready to take the Princess and her Dhampir friend back to the Academy, expecting them to come quietly. But as soon as we have them cornered and outnumbered, I start getting threats from the one who calls herself the princess's Guardian. She tries to hit me, and I block her, and she falls. But I can't let her hit the ground, so I reach out to stop her falling. I do, and as I look into her eyes for the first time, I thought 'I'm going to have trouble with this one'."  
He smiled at me. "Rule number one- Never underestimate Rose Hathaway."

We skipped quickly through our time at the Academy, and the last time I was in Russia. They knew most of it, and the parts they didn't, they were better off not knowing. I took over the storytelling from when I got back to the U.S.

"So I promise my mom, Alberta, and Lissa that I won't leave until we've graduated. So we stay there, graduate, and I get ready to leave right after that. Then, Lissa tells me that she's coming with me, and then my other friends tell me that they're coming too. So Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Adrian and I all go to Vegas to find this Spirit user guy. That leads us to Alaska, and from there we end up planning a prison break to release one of Tarasov's highest-security prisoners."  
Everyone looked shocked.

"_You_ broke Victor Dashkov out of Tarasov. The highest security prison in the world?" Sonya exclaimed.

I shrugged. "Their security system really isn't all that good."

"But only 2 people have ever got out of there before." Karolina pointed out.

"No one else had my friends and I helping them. I _had_ to get Victor out; there was no other way to save Dimitri. It just goes to show that the universe should think twice before screwing with the daughter of one of the world's best Guardians and super-villains."

They looked confused, and I realised they probably didn't know about Abe.  
"Uh, yeah. So I found my dad. Or, well, I guess he found me. Stalked me, whatever."

They all looked at me expectantly.  
"My father is, uh, Abe Mazur."

To her credit, Olena only looked shocked for a second.  
"Well, of course you are. I see the resemblance now, and it explains why he was following you around last time you were here."

Viktoria suddenly started laughing.  
"Dimka, you're dating _Zmey's_ daughter!"

Dimitri kept his face blank. "He's alright once you get to know him."

I snorted. "Oh, please. You're terrified of him. When he and my mom come over, you'll make up the craziest excuses not to see them."

Sonya laughed. "So now you know how our boyfriends felt when we brought them home to meet you!"

Dimitri groaned. "Can we just carry on with the story? Please?"

I smiled sweetly. "Of course. Your part's coming up soon, anyway."

An hour later, we had finally got up to our return to Court with the identity of the murderer.

Olena sighed.  
"When I heard that it was Tasha that had killed Tatiana, I could hardly believe it. We knew you were a suspect, Roza, but never knew that you were on trial for it. Why would she frame you?"

I decided to give the easy answer. "I was the perfect candidate. She had easy access to my stake, everyone knew I didn't like Tatiana, and I had no alibi. It was easy." They didn't look convinced.

Dimitri didn't have the same reservations as me.  
"Tasha was jealous. She had some twisted idea that if I believed Roza had done it, I wouldn't want her anymore. If that failed, then when Rose was executed, then she would have a shot with me. She thought I'd just replace Roza if she was dead."

All of Dimitri's family looked disgusted. "I never liked that bitch." Sonya said, and Olena looked murderous.  
"How could she think that? You were friends for so long."

Dimitri's face was cold. "She said she was in love with me, and I felt bad that I didn't feel the same way about her. But if she ever actually loved me, she'd never have tried to put me through the pain of losing Roza. Tasha made her choices, and if she had just killed the Queen, I might have forgiven her one day, as she was doing what she thought was right. But there is no way to justify how she framed Rose, knowing full well what it would do to Lissa, to me, knowing that Rose would die. Even once the truth was found; Tasha still took the coward's way out and refused to go out quietly. She took a gun from one of the Guardians and threatened an innocent girl, and would have shot Lissa had Rose not taken the bullet."  
Dimitri paused for a moment. "Tasha is not the woman she used to be. I will never forgive her for nearly killing my Roza."

The room was silent.

"You were shot?" Olena asked quietly.

I nodded. "3 times, in the heart." I replied, also quiet. Dimitri tightened his hold around me and I looked up at him.

"She was in surgery for 8 hours. None of the doctors thought she would pull through- it was less than a 3% chance of survival. Lissa and Adrian were forced to stay away, so they couldn't heal her. Her heart stopped twice in surgery, and they officially called time of death at one point. The doctors said they'd never seen someone hold on as long against such low odds, that it was unbelievable she survived."

The pain in his eyes and voice was obvious to anyone, and I could feel my own heart breaking thinking about the pain he'd been through.

"I'd already un-died once; I knew my way back even without Spirit. I refused to stay dead then; I had too much still to live for. No way was I leaving you when I'd only just got you back again. I had a promise to keep."

Dimitri pulled me closer so I was curled against him and pressed his lips to my forehead, which told me more than words ever could. When he released his hold on me, I kept a hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating under his shirt.

Turning my attention back to the room, I could hear Viktoria sniffling on the other side of Dimitri, and Olena had tears in her eyes.

"You two are so beautiful together. Love like yours is rare; cherish it." She said, and the silence that followed her words was cut by the sound of a timer going off. She smiled as she stood up.  
"That's dinner ready. It'll be on the table in 5 minutes. Dimka, you and Roza will be sharing your old room, Vika, go and get what you need for tonight and put it in Karolina's room."

Viktoria left the room behind Olena, and I checked my watch, suddenly remembering something.  
"I have to call Lissa quickly. She'll want to know if we got here okay, and I need to check if she's alright. She should be up by now."

I sat up straight and hit speed dial #2. She picked up almost straight away.  
_"Hey Rose."_  
"Hey Liss. Are you okay? Everything alright at Court?"  
_"Yes, Rose. I'm fine. What about you? Are you there yet? How did it go?"_ She asked.  
"We arrived a few hours ago. Everything's fine. More than fine. Great." I said with a grin.  
_"He deserves this. I'm so happy for you both."  
_"I know. Do you have any meetings today?"  
I could practically see her smile from here.  
_"Nope. Free day, though I have to do some paperwork later. But I'm just going to watch a film with Christian right now."  
_"Yeah, right. Guarantee that after 10 minutes you won't even remember what you're supposed to be watching anymore."  
She giggled, and I knew I was right.  
"Eew, Liss. Gross. Have some standards."  
I heard Olena call from the kitchen. "Oh, hey, food. Gotta go, Liss. I'll talk more tomorrow."  
_"Bye Rose, love you!"_ She said, and I heard Christian singing the same thing in the background.  
"Tell Christian he sounds like a girl and hit him for me. Love you too Liss, bye!"  
I hung up, and shook my head slowly.

"There is something seriously wrong with that guy."

"What's he done this time?" Dimitri asked, humouring me.

"He seems to think that just because I'm on the other side of the world he can get away with calling me names. But he forgets that I'm on a different time zone so can call him tomorrow lunchtime and wake him up in the middle of the night without losing any sleep myself."

Dimitri didn't object to my revenge plan as we walked into the kitchen, where I was greeted by the amazing smell of Olena's cooking.

It seemed I wasn't the only one who had missed Olena's cooking. Together, Dimitri and I must have eaten as much as the rest of the family put together.

"Your food bills must be ridiculous!" Viktoria observed as Dimitri and I refilled our plates again.

"That's why we eat with Lissa and Christian most nights. He's always got some new recipe he wants to try, and Lissa doesn't eat much at all, so we do them a favour by eating it."

Viktoria shook her head in amazement.  
"I never thought Dimka would find a girl who eats as much as him, especially for someone so small." Karolina added.

"Hey, she eats more than me." Dimitri told her.

"Yeah, recovering from triple bullet wounds here. I need the energy." No one debated that.

It was late when we actually left the dinner table, and I was looking forward to going to sleep. It had been a long, emotionally tiring day, and I was still a little jet-lagged.

As I climbed into bed next to Dimitri, I couldn't help but sigh in contentment. Today had been perfect.  
Dimitri wrapped his arms around me and held me close against his warm body, which chased away the last of the cold lingering beneath my skin.

"Thank you, Roza." Dimitri whispered into my hair.

"What for?" I asked.

"Everything. For loving me, for saving me, for making me come back here, for just being you."

I trailed my fingers down his chest and drew circles on his abs.

"Thank you for being equally amazing. I love you."

"I love you too, Roza."

* * *

When I woke up the next morning, I was alone in a strange room. For a second I was confused, before remembering where I was and realising that Dimitri was probably downstairs spending every possible moment with his family.

I stretched cautiously, pleased to find that my chest was better than it had been yesterday. Even over the last few days since being away from Court it had begun to heal faster, much to my relief.

I checked the clock by the bed and found that I had slept in quite late, but at least I could blame jetlag.  
I changed out of Dimitri's T shirt and pulled on comfy jeans and a hoodie, and brushed my hair.  
Just because I'd slept in didn't mean I wanted to go downstairs looking like a slob.

Following the gorgeous smell from downstairs, I skipped down the stairs and the kitchen, where everyone was sitting, except for Yeva, Paul and baby Alicia. I'd heard Paul snoring from his room, so at least I hadn't been beaten out of bed by a ten year old boy.

When I walked into the kitchen, Dimitri was the first to notice me.  
"Good morning, Roza." He smiled, and pulled out the chair next to him.

I went and sat down as I greeted the others. He kissed my cheek.  
"How are you feeling?" Dimitri asked me, dark brown eyes full of concern.

"Surprisingly good. Now it just feels like I've been punched instead of shot, and that's nothing unusual."

"Do you want to practice today?" He asked.

"Yes! I swear I can feel my muscles wasting away!"

* * *

40 minutes later, we were standing outside in a patch of garden that had been cleared (mostly) of snow. All of Dimitri's family were gathered around, waiting to watch the fight.

Dimitri and I dropped into crouches, and on some hidden signal we both jumped forward.

I started with a punch to collar bone, which he knocked away. I used the momentum to keep spinning, and stuck my foot out to try and trip him. He dodged, and landed a hit on my shoulder.

We sparred for a minute longer, and I could tell Dimitri was deliberately avoiding my chest, and I was glad. It still hurt when I touched it too hard.  
Finally, I managed to nail him in the stomach with my knee, but he retaliated. We were too evenly matched, and both of us were giving and receiving hits.

Becoming seriously cold now, I was getting pretty desperate to end this fight.

I jumped to avoid Dimitri's foot swinging out, simultaneously stepping back to prepare for a spring.  
That was my mistake. I hadn't realised how close we'd come to the edge of the circle, and my foot sunk into nearly a foot of slushy snow.  
I tried to pivot around to get out of the snow, but my foot was trapped and I fell backwards into the cold.  
"Oof!"

I opened my eyes to see Dimitri standing above me, smirking.  
"I win."

"Stupid arctic wasteland." I grumbled in response.

Dimitri laughed. "I thought you liked snow."

"Just help me up already."  
I took the hand Dimitri offered, and flashed my killer smile, momentarily distracting him. I clenched my free hand into a fist, balling up a lump of snow. As Dimitri pulled me up I pretended to lose my balance, and put an arm around his neck for support.

I opened my hand, and the snowball hit the back of his neck.

Dimitri hissed and flinched at the cold, and I smiled brightly.  
"I thought you liked snow." I repeated, and turned and ran as he bent down to scoop up more snow.

"Paul, help me!" Dimitri shouted, and next thing I knew I was hit by a rapid succession of 3 snowballs.

"Vika!" I squealed, and she came to my rescue.

* * *

15 minutes later we were all inside, drinking hot chocolate. I sat with a thick blanket around my shoulders, pressed against Dimitri's side.

Olena was discussing plans for tonight's party with Sonya, and Karolina was upstairs with Paul.

Suddenly Viktoria jumped up.  
"Roza! Go get changed and we can go into town and get something to wear for later!"  
She looked so keen that I didn't have the heart to tell her that I didn't want to move from the sofa all day.

"Alright. Give me a minute."

As I went upstairs, I thought about the coming conversation with Viktoria, and the things we still had to sort out.  
This should be interesting...

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**Review and Dimitri will make you some of his awesome hot chocolate :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi... so sorry for the ridiculously long time it took me to update, I was in Barbados for 2 weeks & I didn't get a chance to log on fanfiction (!) as the internet access was very limited :O But I had lots of time to write & start a new story :)  
****To make up for the wait, the chapter after this is reallly long, and I'll put it up tomorrow.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own vampire academy. **

* * *

_This should be intresting..._

I ended up showering as well, as I was just so cold. I changed into another pair of jeans, red and black checked long-sleeved shirt and my thick black jacket. Viktoria dragged me out the door with barely a goodbye to the others.

The silence between us became thicker the further away we got from the house. It seemed we still needed to clear the air from those words said the last time we were alone together.

"The morning after our fight, Yeva spoke to me. She said that 'sometimes we don't know what is a good deed until your saviour and reason for rescue is gone'. I didn't know what she was talking about, but when you didn't come down for breakfast we knew something was wrong. Once we found out you'd left, I felt so guilty. Nobody knew why you'd left, so I told them that we'd had a fight and, and I told them what I'd said to you."  
She paused in her speech, but I let her continue before talking.  
"Later, Sonya asked me what we'd fought about. I ended up telling her everything, and she told me that Rolan," She said the name with disgust. "Was her baby's father. I knew immediately that you had known that, and that was why you got me out of there."  
She shuddered. "Thank you for getting me out, Roza. I don't want to be a blood whore." She said quietly.

It was easy to hear the pain in her voice. I put a hand on her shoulder and smiled sadly.  
"You can't blame yourself for any bad decisions you made at that time. All you can do is be sure not to make them again in the future."

Suddenly Viktoria burst out laughing. "You sounded so much like Dimitri then!"

I thought over what I had just said, and the look of horror on my face quickly replaced with a expressionless mask.

"You mock my life lessons, but sometimes you must look back on your past to see things clearly. Connecting the dots is easier once you have the order they occurred in." I said in my best Dimitri-Zen voice, bad Russian accent and all.

Vika and I were both laughing uncontrollably now, and a couple of people were giving us funny looks. The laughter seemed to clear the air between us, and Viktoria turned to look at me once we had caught our breath.

"I am truly sorry for what I said, Rose. You were so right about Rolan, and all I did was throw it back in your face. It was obvious how much you loved Dimitri then, and now it's obvious he feels the same way. With you, he's more relaxed than with anyone else, and I'm so glad he finally found someone as great as you who he can trust. Life hasn't taken it easy on him, and he's lucky to have someone who understands that too, who he has so much in common with."

She was right. Despite being polar opposites on the surface, we had been through many of the same things; we'd both technically been dead (undead), grown up without a father figure, and lost those close to us at a young age. We had both fought to the death for the things we loved, and hated to not be in the thick of the action.

The things that we didn't have in common were the things that the other needed to be in balance- I needed self-control and Dimitri needed help breaking down the walls that kept him away from others.

Viktoria cleared her throat.  
"I'm still here you know; if you're going to fantasise about my brother then please do it when I'm not around."

I gave her a withering look. "I wasn't fantasizing."

"You so were." She scoffed. "You had that dopy look on my face that mama says I get when I'm thinking about-"

She cut herself off quickly, and I grabbed her arm.

"Who? Do I know them? Do I have to send Abe after them?" I practically shouted.

"Yes, Roza. You know them, and I think you'd approve. And please don't send Abe after them."

My eyes widened. "Please tell me it's Nikolai!"

She smiled. "It's Nikolai!"

If I was Lissa, I would currently have Vika in a bone-crushing hug and be squealing about how brilliant everything was. But I'm Rose, so of course I didn't.  
"It's about time. That boy was _crazy_ about you. When did you see the light?"

"A few weeks after you left. I was still upset about that shitface Rolan, even though he never really cared about me, he really managed to pull me in. But Nikolai was there to pick up the pieces, and somehow in the way of fixing my heart, he managed to steal it too."  
True to her word, a dreamy look did cover her face.

"And now Dimitri's back, I'm sure he'll want to have a little talk with his little sister's boyfriend." I teased.

Her reaction reminded me of my own when my parents had been talking to Dimitri at the coronation.  
"Don't worry." I laughed. "If Dimitri tries anything, just remind him that in about 2 weeks' time, he'll be in the middle of the backwoods of Montana with possible firearms, a world-class Guardian and a mobster, having a 'little talk' about his relationship with their daughter."

Viktoria snorted. "Even if he doesn't say anything to Nikolai, I'll remind him of that. It's freaking hilarious."

The bell above the shop door tinkled as we walked in, and the woman behind the counter smiled at us.  
After quickly skimming through the normal clothes, Viktoria and I went and looked at the dresses. When we had each chosen some, we went to try them on. I had 2 and Vika had 3. Each going into one of the 2 changing rooms, I put the first one on. It was midnight blue and had spaghetti straps, falling straight down to my knees. I stepped out to see Vika wearing a similar style but in plum. Looking at in the full length mirror and back at each other, we both shook our heads.

Going back into the changing room, I put on the next dress. I stepped out and waited for Vika.

When she saw what I was wearing, she grinned.  
"That's perfect, Roza. Get it." Viktoria commanded.  
It was a strapless russet dress that reached almost to my knees, flaring out from the waist. A year ago, I would have chosen something a lot less... modest.  
But now, there was only one man who I wanted to notice me, and tonight was about him.

"You look pretty fine yourself, Vika."  
She was wearing a dove grey dress that went slightly below her knees, made of flowing satin with some type of gossamer layer on top. I imagined Lissa would approve.

"I love it." She agreed. "I'm not even going to try the last one. I _need_ this dress."

Changing back into our normal clothes- me wearing significantly more layers than her, we went to pay.  
It turned out that the dresses were actually on sale.  
"My luck is changing." Vika observed as we walked out of the shop.  
"I know the feeling. Finally, some good Karma."

**DPOV**

After Roza and Vika left, I joined my mama in the kitchen where she was preparing food for later. She turned around when she heard me enter.  
_"Hello there, Dimka."  
_My brain switched instantly into my native language with ease, though I hadn't spoken it much over the last 2 years. Whenever Rose was around everyone spoke English to be polite- except babushka, of course.

I had the sudden impulse to jump up and sit on the counter close to where mama was cooking, like I had when I was a boy. I could practically just sit down on the high counter now, lifting myself just a few centimetres off the floor. I had been so small the last time I had done this.

Mama must been remembering this too, as she looked at me with the same sweet affection as she had then.

"I've missed you, baby." She said quietly.

"I missed you too, mama." I replied. And I had.

She patted my cheek, probably leaving flour behind from her dusty hands.  
"I'm so proud of you. Of the Guardian you've become, and of the man you've become."  
She put a tray in the oven before continuing. "After Ivan died, I was so worried about you. Going off to America the next year, I worried that you'd spend the rest of your life trying to outrun all your memories, and that you'd never be the same again. I know how hard it always was for you to let anyone in, and losing a friend that close to you is never easy."

I felt the familiar pain that crept up on me whenever Ivan was brought up. It was one of the reasons I had left Russia, but I didn't try and block it out any more.

"But you seem whole again now. In fact, you're happier than you've ever been. And I suppose that I have Roza to thank for that."

I nodded solemnly.  
"I swear, mama. I don't know what I'd do without her. She saw through all the walls I put up after Ivan died, and broke down the ones that have always held me back.  
Some days, the memories of _then_ become too much, but all she has to do is take my hand or smile, and it's like it never happened."

Suddenly I wanted to tell her everything, to tell her all about how I felt about my Roza. Which was crazy, because I was never one to talk about my feelings. But the urge was there, and she didn't try to stop me.  
"She came into my world like a wildfire; an unstoppable force that burned away everything I thought I knew about myself and the world. But at the same time, it was like there was warmth and light in the world for the first time. I stayed up so many nights just trying to understand what was going on, I told myself I couldn't be in love with her, but for the first time in my life I couldn't lie to myself, or her."  
I was silent for a moment.  
"When I heard the shot go off, and I realised what was going to happen, I lost all control. My mind was frozen, but my body was already moving, trying to take the bullet. But I was too late, and in one second it was like my world crashed down. Rose was just lying there in the middle of the courtroom, surrounded by hundreds of people who were more worried about themselves that her. Not even when I was caught by that Strigoi did I feel so hopeless. I wished it was me lying there, as I watched the life fade from Roza's eyes, I felt my own going with it. I'd never known true fear until that moment. Without her, I would literally be nothing. She is everything to me."

That was the end of my impulsive speech, and I looked down at mama, who had stopped preparing food to listen to me. Suddenly she smiled widely, and hopped up onto the counter next to me.

"Dimka, I'm so happy that you found someone to love that feels the same way about you. Rose is a lovely girl, and I honestly couldn't imagine anyone better for you. I used to worry about you all on your own, halfway across the world."

I huffed. "Mama, I'm 24 and have a job- I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself."

My mother smiled at me like I was severely misinformed if that's what I thought.  
"Alright. I just feel better knowing that you have Roza to look after you now."  
She ruffled my hair slightly and kissed my forehead.  
"Otherwise, you'd spend all the time you were off-duty alone, locked up in your room re-reading westerns and watching John Wayne movies. From what I understand, Rose's friends are yours now as well. You have a life, Dimka."

Just then Karolina walked in.  
"Dimka has a life? Dimka has friends? I'll believe that when I see it." She scoffed.

"Actually, I'm friends with the Queen, if you don't believe me, next time Rose calls Lissa, ask her." I said, doing my best impression of Karolina when she was younger. She was always one of those 'if you don't believe me, ask my mom' types.

She gave me a withering look.  
"Well, now I'm definitely telling Rose about the time when you were 14 and you-"

I slipped down from the counter to stand in front of my sister, glaring down at her.  
"You wouldn't..."

Karolina laughed.  
"Don't worry, little brother. Rose thought you being married to our dolls was sweet- I doubt she'll judge you for this."

With an evil big-sister laugh, she flitted out of the room. I turned to mama, who was smiling.  
"What's so funny?" I asked suspiciously, wondering what other 'sweet' things Roza had been told about me.

"I missed you, Dimka. To have you back, seeing you being teased by your sister, is something that should be impossible. Thanks to Roza, this miracle happened."

I smiled back. "That's just Roza all over."

Mama reached out and placed a hand on my arm.  
"My little boy really is all grown up and in love. And I couldn't have hoped for you to find a better woman."

"That's because there is no one better. She is the only one who understands me, the only one I will ever need."  
Thinking about Rose made me wish she was here. She'd only been gone about an hour, but any time out of my sight was too long.

Just then, I heard the door open and slam shut, and a cold breeze blew through the hallway into the kitchen. But my heart warmed as I saw the person standing on the doormat, banging snow off her shoes.

After hanging her coat up, Roza came into the kitchen, followed by Viktoria. Vika dropped down onto one of the chairs around the kitchen table, putting her feet up on the one next to it, earning a disapproving look from mama which she ignored. Roza came straight over to me, and when she was close enough I pulled her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around me, linking her hands behind my back. Noticing that she was actually quite cold, I held her closer.

"Mmm, warm." She hummed, snuggling into my chest, getting laughs from Vika and I.

"Are you hungry?" Mama asked Rose.  
Like there was ever more than one answer to that.

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**Naww Dimka and Olena. He so sweet :')  
Lots of fluff coming up in the next few chapters.**

**Review to get a snuggly warm Dimitri hug :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Reallly long chapter, with lots of fluff and fun. Enjoy :) **

**RPOV**

I warmed up quickly after some of Olena's amazing soup. Christian was good with his fancy recipes, but when it came to home-cooked delicious goodness, no one could compete.

For the next couple of hours, we discussed what was going on at Court, the things that Lissa was trying to change. Lissa called even though it was the middle of the night in America, and we had a half-hour conversation, and Dimitri even had a quick conversation with her. When the call ended, he looked pointedly at Karolina, and I was sure I had missed something.

Being winter and practically in the Arctic and all, the sun began to set at about 5 O'clock, and we went to get ready for the party. Dimitri changed into dark jeans and a shirt, and I put my dress on.

"You look beautiful, Roza."  
He walked over to me slowly, putting his hands on my waist. I leaned into him slightly, looking up into his dark eyes. The intensity with which he looked back at me made little black butterflies flit through my body, before settling low in my stomach. I'd been careful around him all day, seeing how most of the time his mom was right there in the room with us. But we were alone now.

Our lips crashed together with all the pent-up passion we'd been pushing aside, and I put one arm around his neck, and used the other to pull myself closer, nails digging into his back.  
Dimitri's hand slid along my thigh, pulling my leg up to his hip. I took this as an invitation and moved my hand from his back to his neck, pulling myself up as I wrapped both legs around his waist.  
Dimitri carried me a few steps, until my back was pressed against the wall. There I paused to catch my breath, whilst he moved onto kissing my neck and shoulders left exposed by the strapless dress.

I tangled my fingers in his hair and brought his face back to mine, where our lips fused together again. I pressed forward and he pulled me away from the wall and stepped backward.

Suddenly, we were falling. A second later, I was lying on top of Dimitri, who was in turn lying on the bed. That must have been what he walked into. He looked shocked for a second, before starting to laugh. I joined him, albeit breathlessly.

"That was... necessary." Dimitri commented. I nodded, before checking the clock on the bedside table.

"Probably a good thing you got clumsy. We need to go down."

Dimitri _almost_ pouted, and it was so funny I couldn't help but laugh again.

"Please, Roza? Can't we just stay here all night? They won't even notice that we're missing."

"One; I'm pretty sure they will notice when you don't turn up for your own party. Two; I'm not having sex with your mom just downstairs. Even I have lines that I won't cross, as much as I want to."

Dimitri sighed, before sitting up on the bed, my legs still wrapped around his waist.

"Where's all that famous self-control of yours gone, anyway?" I teased.

"Long gone." He replied, and when he stole another kiss, I didn't object.

10 minutes later we finally got downstairs. When we finally restrained ourselves, it had taken a little while for us to become presentable again. Though we hadn't actually gone all the way, we both had undeniable sex hair, my subtle makeup smudged, and my dress practically half-way off. I didn't want everyone to get the wrong impression of me (or the right one), so I'd taken the time to fix it.  
Luckily, no one had arrived yet, and aside from a knowing (and slightly disgusted) glance from Viktoria, no one seemed to be any the wiser as to why we'd taken so long.

We went outside to the garden, carrying trays of food which we put on the wooden tables that had been set up, and carried out all the small chairs from the house, as well as some garden furniture.  
It was almost fully dark when the first 2 people arrived, a few middle-aged women who were friends of Olena. I recognised them from the funeral.

She went to greet them, and they all shared light embraces and words that sounded congratulatory, though I didn't really understand. I heard 'miracle, true, Dimka, Rose', and after a minute they turned to Dimitri, who had his arm around my waist.  
"Dimka!" Another string of Russian and more hugs. When Dimitri replied, I was less interested in the content of what he was saying, and focussed more on the sound of him speaking Russian. It was incredibly sexy, and I wished I'd taken him up on his offer of staying in our room all night.

I was dragged back to reality as one of the women turned to me, speaking in heavily accented English.  
"Ah, Rose. It is so nice to see you again, in happier circumstances."

I racked my brain to try and remember her name. So much of that night was a blur, and the rest I had tried to forget. But luckily I did remember this woman's name- I now remembered that she was Olena's closest friend, and had sat with her all night. We'd had a conversation about how Dimitri and I fell in love- she had been one of those who treated me like Dimitri's widow.  
"Yes, it is, Katya. It's lovely to see you too."

She smiled. "I can't wait to hear your story. You have a gift for telling them, and I would like to hear your happy ending."

Once the other 2 women had congratulated us, they went to talk to Sonya. But all too soon, the air was cut by the sound of Dimitri's name being called.  
"Dimka!" I stiffened, though it was impossible, for a second I could have sworn that I heard Tasha. But as I looked around, I saw a pretty blonde Dhampir coming towards us, who appeared to already be a little drunk.

"Elvira." Dimitri greeted her, before being wrapped in a huge hug. Dimitri patted her back awkwardly, obviously not as thrilled at this reunion as she was. Elvira refused to let go, and began talking rapidly in Russian. Though I couldn't understand what she was saying, I wanted to punch this girl in the face. The obvious flirting in her voice was pronounced enough to transcend language, as was the way she was pressed against him, and how short her dress was.

Eventually Dimitri managed to pry her off himself, but she didn't seem fazed.

"Elvira, this is my Rose. She saved me." Dimitri said in English, putting emphasis on 'my Rose'.

Blondie turned to me, acknowledging me for the first time. She looked me up and down, judging me. I smiled brightly.  
"Hello Elvira. It's lovely to meet you."  
Any girl could have told that I was most definitely _not_ pleased to meet her.

"And you, Rose. Any friend of Dimka's is a friend of mine."  
Well, the feeling isn't mutual, bitch.

I put a hand on Dimitri's shoulder and he took the hint, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me close. I'd been forced away when Blondie molested him.  
When I didn't reply, she stayed quiet for a moment, assessing the situation.

"So, you're the lucky girl that finally managed to win our Dimka's heart."  
It seemed she'd decided that she could no longer act like she didn't know Dimitri and I were more than friends.

"Yep, that's me. Though there was no luck involved." I kept my voice light, but was sure my eyes would be telling the truth.

She smiled triumphantly. "Of course, you're right. Luck has nothing to do with getting Dimitri." She wouldn't... "I should know."  
Oh. Hell. No. She did.

"Of course you know. Because he'd never go for someone like you, and you're obviously a very lucky person because..." I dropped the light tone. "You're still breathing." I growled, and to her credit, the smile only dropped a fraction.

"Well, Dimka, it was great to see you. Nice to meet you too, Rose."  
With that she scurried off, flicking her hair over her shoulder. As she did, I saw that her neck was cut and scarred, and there was a pair of holes that looked only a few hours old.

I turned to Dimitri.  
"Please tell me I'm right and that wasn't actually an ex of yours."

Dimitri shook his head instantly.  
"No way. She was never even a friend."

I mentally sighed in relief.  
"I was just surprised she was flirting with you- another Dhampir, I mean."

Dimitri shook his head sadly.  
"She's not just a blood whore. Lots of my friends did end up giving blood to Moroi guys, and although I didn't agree with it, it was mostly the same one all the time, and aside from that, they tried hard at school and got respectable jobs in town.  
But Elvira would go with anyone- Moroi, Dhampir, even humans a few times. She was proud of it; showing off that she'd got '3 in one night'. She was the school slut."

I looked over to where Elvira was now talking with some guy. The rumours people had spread about me echoed in my head, and I wondered what I'd be like if I hadn't met Dimitri. I wouldn't be a blood whore and I wouldn't sleep with 3 guys in one night, but I could half recognise myself in the revealing dress and flirting. After I made this comparison, I felt sorry for Elvira. She didn't have what I had- either a Guardian title, or someone who truly loved her.

I was pulled from my reverie by someone calling my name from behind me.  
"Hey there Hathaway!"  
I spun around, to see someone pushing their way through the crowd towards me.

"Denis!" I stepped forward to meet him, and I was pulled into a huge bear hug, which I enthusiastically returned.

He let go, running his hands down my arms and looked me over, shaking his head.  
"You are one crazy chick, Rose. When you disappeared, some of the guys thought the worst. But I knew you'd be fine. Then we hear you've been arrested, then you escape, then you're saving the Queen, as well as allegedly breaking into-and out of- Tarasov. Now this." He looked behind me, to Dimitri.

I grinned. "I know, right. All of that, and I still managed to go back to school and graduate."  
I turned around, flicking my hair over my shoulder so he could see my promise mark and new Molnijas I had recently been awarded- courtesy of Sydney's Alchemist reports of Russia and the escape that she had filed just after the coronation.

I dropped my hair and stepped back into Dimitri, who put his arm around me again. Denis looked stepped towards us.  
"_Privet_, Dimitri."

"Denis."  
They shook hands, but it was a little forced, I had the feeling that there was some unresolved issue between them. Whatever.

Denis stood back, apprising the two of us standing side by side.  
"Well, Rose, you certainly didn't give up on this one. Are you sure this wasn't your plan all along?"

I laughed. "Seriously? I didn't even know it was possible until I thought it was too late. But you know me- don't back down 'til the sun goes down."

Denis agreed, and his brother came up beside him  
"Hello Rose, Dimitri."

We greeted him in return. Nikolai smiled wryly.  
"I should thank you for what you did for Vika. Once she knew the truth, she felt so bad for what she had said. If it hadn't been for you, she would have ended up hurt even more by that jackass, and-"

He cut off as Viktoria bounced up beside him and kissed his cheek, wrapping her arms around his neck.  
"Kolya, you made it! I was worried you weren't coming for a minute there."

She went quiet as she realised she wasn't alone.  
"Oh, uh, hi Dimka. Didn't see you there." She said nervously, as Dimitri glared at Nikolai.  
There was an awkward silence for a minute, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw a distraction.

"Oh, hey, there's Oksana and Mark. I'm gonna go say hi."  
I pulled Dimitri with me, earning grateful looks from Viktoria and Nikolai, and a smile from Denis.

"So, Vika and Nikolai?" Dimitri asked me. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't go all protective big brother on her tonight, save it for the morning if you must. Nikolai really loves her, and she could have done a lot worse."

Dimitri's face softened. "I know."

By now we had reached Oksana and Mark, who were sitting talking to each other by the garden wall. They looked up as we got closer, Oksana obviously sensing us by our auras.

"Rose." She greeted me, standing up and pulling me into a hug. Dimitri shook Mark's hand, before they swapped. Mark hugged me and kissed my cheek, and Oksana embraced Dimitri. There was so much hugging going on tonight; Sydney would have a fit. I felt a pang of regret at that last thought; I hadn't heard from Sydney since we'd been shot, only heard through others that she okay.

As I let go of Mark, I looked to both him and Oksana.  
"Thank you so, so much for telling me what you did. I wouldn't be here now if you hadn't given me a way to save him."  
I put an arm around Dimitri, and he kissed my temple.

Oksana smiled. "Don't be silly, Rose. We just told you a fairytale, you made it reality, and created a legend."

"But that fairytale gave me my happy ending."

She smiled wider. "I love being around people in love. But you two are giving me a headache with light your auras are giving off, especially now all the darkness has gone."

Mark suddenly looked startled.  
"How did that happen? I know Vasilisa is alive, obviously, but how did the bond break?"

I shrugged. "I got shot, died again. Guess after getting back once I know my way around the afterlife."  
Mark shook his head in amazement.

Dimitri spoke for the first time then.  
"Oksana, thank you for healing Roza- when she arrived and before she left. And especially for the spirit ring; ghosts really hate Strigoi."

Mark looked confused for a second, but Oksana seemed to know what he was trying to say.  
"It was my pleasure, Dimitri. Rose found her way into the hearts of everyone here; we were all sad to see her go. But it was necessary. Since you were a boy, Yeva said you had a destiny that few could hope to fulfil, a path that not even you could not travel alone. She said that your life thread was interwoven with someone else's as close as it possibly could be, just like yours and Rose's auras are as similar as they could be without belonging to the same person. As soon as I met Rose, I knew she was the one that Yeva had predicted. And I know not that you're both too strong to let those threads unravel again."

Just then, Olena came over to us.  
"Are you ready to tell the story now?"

I turned around to see most people sitting down, either on chairs or on the ground, generally facing in the same direction.  
"Ready as we'll ever be."

Dimitri took my hand and led me to the front of the garden. Everyone turned to face us, and after checking with Dimitri, I started speaking.  
"Hey, everyone. It's great to be here again, with some better news than last time. Most of you probably remember me standing here telling the tale of Dimitri's last battle, but the story didn't end there. This time, hopefully you'll actually be able to hear what I'm saying as I won't be bawling my eyes out the whole time, I'm actually sober, and Dimitri can remind me when I miss out something important which I'm bound to forget. So it's all good."  
After that, we began our story.

The story didn't end at Dimitri's restoration. Oh no, we'd tried, but people wanted to hear everything after that as well, right up until tonight. This just proved my theory that I'd had when I was here the last time- the one thing these people loved more than a good action/adventure story, was romance.

Once we had finally finished talking, vodka bottles and shot glasses began appearing (not that people hadn't been swigging from bottles already).

I eyed the clear liquid warily as it filled my glass, remembering the last time I had drunk this Russian 'Vodka'. Yeah, rocket fuel more like.

Olena stood up and got everyone's attention. I actually recognised what she was saying in Russian.  
"_A toast, to Roza and Dimitri."_

I turned to Dimitri.  
"To us." We both said, and clinked our glasses together before knocking the vodka back.  
It was just as insanely strong as I remembered, but I swallowed the burning drink, squeezing my eyes shut, resisting the urge to cough. I opened my eyes a moment later, dignity intact, to see Dimitri watching me, one eyebrow raised. I shrugged, like the insane drink hadn't nearly killed me the first time I drank it. Do your worst, Russia. Score one for the American.

Just then music started playing, and I looked over to see Viktoria standing next to a set of speakers, grinning at us. Obviously a welcome home party warranted music where a memorial service did not.  
In response to the music, everyone's voices got louder and several people came over to Dimitri and I to try and get more stories out of us.

* * *

These Russians sure knew how to party.  
If the empty vodka bottles on lines up against the wall was anything to go by, there would be a few hangovers in the morning. Or they were just used to it.

I had a glass in my hand, but it had only been refilled once since the toast. I'd drunk half of it, but wasn't going to fall into the trap I had last time. Since Lissa and I had come back to the Academy, I'd barely drunk at all, save for the last time I was here. To be honest, after just a few mouthfuls of this stuff I was feeling a little buzzed, in a good way, not an oh-shit-gonna-have-a-massive-headache-nearly-passi ng-out way.

Dimitri, on the other hand, was accepting refills every time somebody offered one. After the 6th, his stories started becoming more and more animated. Then again, he was probably immune to this super-strength vodka, having grown up with it.  
It was actually sort of nice to see him let go a bit, it was impossible to know when the last time he'd been off duty long enough to actually drink was. He deserved this- it was his 'I'm alive' party, after all.  
At one point, an old friend from St. Basils had come over to us, and Dimitri had been joking with him in a way I was pretty sure he wouldn't be if he was sober.

I caught Viktoria's eye across the garden, and she rolled her eyes and shook her head at her brother's intoxication. She beckoned me over, and seeing that Dimitri was currently having an in-depth conversation in Russian, I went over to her.

"Dimka's such a lightweight. He's barely had anything to drink, and look at him." She tutted.

"Barely anything?" I asked, slightly incredulously.

She nodded enthusiastically. "By the usual standards. Yeva's probably had twice as much as him. In fact, I have, though don't tell him that, he'll shout at me. At least I can handle it though."

She shook her head as someone refilled Dimitri's glass yet again.  
"You better stop him, Roza. He'll have the world's worst hangover in the morning, and that is not fun for anyone around him. That's the main reason he doesn't drink that much."

I raised my (both) eyebrows.

"Yeah." Vika laughed. "He'll say it's because 'one must never let their guard down', but mostly it's because he's such a crappy drinker. He gets silly really quickly, then the next morning complains enough that you want to drink something yourself just to drown it out. I guarantee that he won't wake up until 11 O'clock tomorrow, and then he'll stumble downstairs and won't leave the sofa until dinner."

I couldn't help but laugh. Who would have guessed that Dimitri couldn't hold his drink? This would be a good story to take home.  
"In a minute we can go get him. Right now, he seems pretty engrossed in his conversation."

Vika rolled her eyes.  
"He doesn't even like Vassily. He was part of the group with Dimka and Ivan, but no one really wanted him there. He was always the one that got them in trouble. I bet right now they're reliving one of the times Vassily got them to do something stupid that Dimka usually thinks is irresponsible and childish. But give him a few drinks, and he suddenly thinks that sneaking onto the school grounds, taking all the desks outside and putting all the furniture on the roof is a good idea."

I snorted. "Seriously?"  
She nodded.  
"They sat behind the desks all night until the teacher found them the next morning. He was 16, I was 7 or 8. Mama went ape-shit on him."

I was still laughing. The thought of drunken Dimitri was just too funny.  
"I'll bet she did." It was such a weird thought, especially since I was only 9 at the time. Wait, now it was just _too _weird.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by my phone going off. I'd stashed it in my bra, and checked to see who was looking before taking it out. It was a text from Lissa.  
**How's everything going? ~L**

**Fun times :) Surrounded by drunk Russians ;P ~R**

**Oh U at D's party? ~L**

**Yeh. He's kinda drunk :3 ~R**

**Seriously? Dimitri drunk?! ~L**

**IKR. Better go stop him b4 he does somethin silly:P ~R**

**Send pic if he does ;P ~L**

I rolled my eyes at Lissa's text.  
"Come on, then. Let's go stop the fool before he does anything stupid."

Vika and I walked over to Dimitri. The garden was emptying now, we didn't have to fight our way through people to cross it, and most of those who were left were leaning against the fence for support.

"Roza! I didn't know where you'd gone. I thought you'd gone home." Dimitri said loudly.

"You're the one that needs to go home." Viktoria told him sternly, as I was too busy trying not to laugh to say anything.

"What are you, my mom?" He shot back.

"Uh, no. But she's right over there, I can go get her if you want."  
Viktoria pointed to Olena.

Dimitri huffed. "I never get to have any fun."

I swallowed back laughter and stepped forward, pressing a button on my phone.  
"Come on, let's get you to bed." I said, as though talking to a child. That had usually worked with Adrian.

Dimitri smirked. "Only if you come with me."

Vassily laughed and Viktoria slapped his arm.  
"You're going to _sleep, _Dimitri."

"Sure, I sleep with Roza all the time." He winked at me.  
Viktoria looked disgusted, and I couldn't hold back my laughter any longer.

"Right, come on then Comrade. Before you say something else you'll regret in the morning."

Just as we turned to leave, I showed Viktoria the video recording screen on my phone and winked, and she went to find Nikolai.

I pushed Dimitri into the bedroom ahead of me.  
"Get changed, Dimitri. I'll be back in a minute."  
He seemed to comply as I ran back downstairs to get some water. When I came back in, I closed the door with my foot.

I was relieved to see that Dimitri was in bed, and was indeed wearing his pyjamas. Well, the bottoms anyway.

He seemed to have calmed down now; I suspected the party atmosphere and Vassily's company had influenced his attitude.  
I put one glass of water on my bedside table and passed the other to Dimitri.  
"Drink some of this." I instructed him, and he obeyed.

Once he had finished, he turned to me.  
"I love you so much, Roza. You always look out for me. I don't know what I'd do without you."  
Aaw, Dimitri was a sweetie when he was drunk.

"I love you too, Comrade. Go to sleep now."  
I kissed him quickly on the lips, then on the forehead.  
Smiling, Dimitri snuggled down under the covers, and fell asleep almost instantly.

I curled up against his side, and felt my own eyelids begin to close. I'd had just enough vodka that I'd sleep easy tonight, but would hopefully escape the hangover. Only time would tell.

* * *

**Drunk Dimitri :P** **Who would have thought it?**

**Review and you might get an invite to Dimitri's next party ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Rose/Olena** **bonding, and RxD fluff. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA. Richelle Mead does.**

* * *

_Only time would tell..._

I woke up the next morning to the sound of birdsong. For once, Dimitri was still asleep beside me. Still lying on his back, where he had passed out last night, he looked really sweet, and I moved slowly, trying not to jostle him as I checked the clock. 10:23.

It was actually pretty late, even for me. For once, I didn't want a lie-in.  
Carefully and quietly, I got up and pulled on some sweats.

The house was silent as I crept down the stairs, but had I noticed Olena's bedroom door was open slightly, so she was obviously already up.  
I found her in the living room, reading. She looked surprised when she saw me.  
"Hello, Roza. Didn't expect to see you up and about this early."

I sat down on the sofa next to her.  
"I didn't want to go back to sleep, or risk waking Dimitri. I figured he'd have a pretty heavy hangover when he wakes up, so leave him in peace whilst it lasts."

Olena smiled and shook her head.  
"I don't know why he drank so much last night. He knows it's not good for him, and he can't handle it. You didn't have much, then?" She asked.

"No way. After last time, I have a healthy respect for the liquid fire and those who can stomach it. I'm not one of them, and I'm not ashamed to admit it."

Olena smiled. "I'm the same. Dimka gets it from me; the others are all fine, like Yeva. They'll stay asleep for a while yet, but be alright when they wake up."

We sat in companionable silence for a minute.  
"Would you like to see those photos that I talked about before?"

I nodded enthusiastically.  
"I'd love to."

Olena got up and pulled a thick green photo album from the bottom of the bookshelf before moving to sit closer to me and placing the book in my lap.  
She opened the book to reveal a picture of a tiny baby, with dark brown eyes and wispy brown hair. His little hands balled into fists, but with an almost familiar smile on his face.  
I couldn't help but smile myself as I looked at baby Dimitri.

I turned the next few pages; Karolina, Olena and Yeva holding him, lying in a crib, taking his first steps. A few pages in, there was a picture of Dimitri maybe 2 years old, wearing a cowboy hat.  
"So is this where it all started?" I asked.

"I'm really not sure. All I know is, that boy loved anything to do with the West. It was ironic that his first assignment should be in America, but at least he didn't end up in Texas."

I laughed. "Then he might have worn spurs as well as the duster."

It felt so nice to be joking about Dimitri with his mother, without the pain of knowing I'd never see him again. Olena really was the sweetest woman I'd ever met.

Soon came a picture of Dimitri dressed up in a little suit, a young Karolina and some other girls standing behind him. Karolina was holding a doll in a wedding dress. This must have been one of those times I'd heard about the last time I was here. I had been right. He was standing there a look of stoic determination on his 5-year-old face, just as I'd imagined he would.

As the pages turned, it became easier and easier to see Dimitri in these pictures- the eyes, the smile, the hair.  
I had to admit, seeing a picture of Dimitri on his 6th birthday was a little weird, seeing as I wouldn't even be born for another 5 months. But the feeling soon passed when I saw the next picture; Dimitri asleep on the couch hugging a little blue teddy bear. Yes, our plushie-hugging days overlapped. All was well.

By the age of 10 it seemed Dimitri was probably already taller than I was now.

A few photos after those of his 12th birthday came one of Dimitri with short hair. It had been getting gradually longer since the age of about five, but now it was down to about a grade 3 all over, sticking up in different directions and looking generally silly. So did the grumpy look on Dimitri's face.

Olena and I chuckled at that picture.  
"Some boys were teasing Dimka for having long hair, so he wanted to have it shorter. I tried to tell him not to listen, that he was perfect as he was, but, well... you know Dimitri."

I nodded. "Once he sets his mind on something, nothing in the world is going to change it."

"Exactly. But as soon as he looks in the mirror, he realises that for once he probably should have listened to the girls on this one. Karolina teased him about it constantly."

2 pictures later, and Dimitri's hair was back to normal. But after a few pages, there was an instant change in the change in the boy in the pictures. His smile a little smaller, standing a little straighter, tensed as if ready for a fight. Eyes hard- the beginning of the Guardian mask.  
I doubted most people would see it, but I knew Dimitri too well, even if I hadn't known him at the time.

I ran my finger over the picture lightly as Olena watched me.  
"He was 13 here, wasn't he?"  
She nodded.

"How long after..." I trailed off. I wasn't quite sure how to phrase her son beating up his father.

Olena sighed. "About 3 weeks, I think. He changed so much, it was a while before any of the children got back to normal, but Dimitri always stayed on guard after that, always ready to fight and protect."

We were quiet for a minute.  
"He told me about it just a few weeks after going back to the Academy. It was one of the first times he really opened up to me, and I spent the next 3 days telling myself that I was _not _falling in love with my mentor. Well, half of me did. The other half spent 3 days telling that part to shut up and deal with it."

Olena smiled knowingly, and I kept on turning the pages.  
The next picture that stood out was a 17-year old Dimitri with a group of friends, one a Moroi standing right next to him. Dimitri's body language was slightly protective.  
"Is that Ivan?" I pointed to the Moroi next to Dimitri.

Olena nodded sadly. "He was such a lovely boy. He didn't care for the other Royals, and treated Dhampirs like equals. Sure, he got Dimka into trouble a few times, but he was a great friend. Dimitri was never the same after he was killed."

She looked at me and smiled.  
"Until now."

On the next page were the pictures of Dimitri's graduation.  
He really didn't look much different at 18 to what he did now at 24, which was strangely comforting. Maybe because over 7 years- from my age to his- he hadn't changed all that much, physically at least, except for becoming even buffer.

Dimitri was standing next to Ivan, stake in hand, looking ready to take on anyone who would threaten his new charge. This was when Guardian Belikov was unleashed on the world; destined to become one of the greatest to have ever lived. And this was only 5 years ago.

I laughed as I saw the photo on the next page. Dimitri and Ivan were asleep on the sofa. Ivan was lying with his head over the arm of the couch, mouth hanging open, with his legs on Dimitri's lap. Dimitri was hugging a pillow to his chest, head resting on the back of the sofa. His hair was a mess, clothes rumpled. There was an empty bottle of vodka lying on the floor between them; both looked like they had passed out after drinking it.

This was the photo of the last time Dimitri got drunk, and allegedly regretted it in the morning. From this picture, I imagined that he wouldn't be all that comfortable when he woke up.  
"So this is what we're in for later?" I asked Olena.

"I'd imagine so. I'll warn you now; when he's had too much to drink, Dimitri turns into the whiniest, grumpiest person you will ever meet."

Just then, I heard a noise from the doorway. Olena and I turned see Dimitri standing there, leaning against the doorframe for support.

Eyes half closed, blinking slowly, one hand clutching his head, he groaned.  
_"Mama, where the fuck is the aspirin?"_

Well, this should be fun.

**DPOV**

I awoke to what sounded like people banging drums right next to me. I stirred, lifting my head, to find that the noise was inside my head, and that they weren't drums, but sledge hammers. _Shit._

I reached out across the bed to find that it was empty- Rose was already up.  
I stretched, groaning as the hammers in my head showed me how much they didn't want me to move.

Ignoring the feeling on my skull being drilled, I forced myself out of bed into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror, taking in the half-closed eyes and messed-up hair. I would have mentally slapped myself, but my head hurt enough already.

After splashing my face with freezing water, I began the terrible trip down the hallway to the stairs.  
As I stepped down, it felt like a knife was being shoved into the base of my skull.  
Why the fuck did I have so much to drink last night? Why did no one stop me?

I eventually reached the downstairs floor, only to hear laughter coming from the living room. I could hear mama and Rose, and followed the sound.  
How could anyone be laughing this early in the morning, which a hangover like this? Just listening to them was making my head pound harder, like there was a freaking tiny man with a pickaxe slowly chipping away at my brain.  
Tiny man with a pickaxe? What the fuck was wrong with my head?

I stumbled as I reached the doorway, putting one arm against it and leaning on it. I tried to remember how to speak.  
_"Mama, where the fuck is the aspirin?"_ I asked.

She looked at me disapprovingly, whilst Roza looked amused. What had I done wrong? Shit, I swore in front of mama. Oh well, she should try to think clearly with this freaking hangover.  
_But she doesn't have one, didn't drink too much_. A really annoying voice in my head told me, sounding suspiciously like one of my old teachers.  
_Shut the fuck up, bitch._ I told the voice.  
Great, so I was having conversations with myself.

Mama came back then with a glass of water and some pills. I hadn't even realised she's left the room.  
_"Here, Dimka. Go lie down, it'll pass eventually."_  
I took a mouthful of water and swallowed the tablets, before dragging myself over to the closest sofa, the one that Roza was sat on.

I dropped down onto it, the world spinning as my head felt like it continued to drop long after I was sat down.

Roza looked at me sympathetically, and I lay out on the sofa, resting my head in her lap.  
Her cool fingers brushed against my forehead softly, making the pain recede for half a second. I closed my eyes as I waited for the painkillers to kick in.

**RPOV**

Once Dimitri was fast asleep again, Olena and I looked through the last few photos.  
The last one in the album was bittersweet.

Dimitri was standing at the door of the house, with a rucksack and suitcase. All his family was surrounding him, and I knew they were saying goodbye before he left for America.  
On Olena's face was a look I recognised from Dimitri. She was smiling, but behind that I could see sadness and fear; fear that this would be the last time she'd see her son. And it almost was.

Olena's next words echoed my thoughts.  
"I was so afraid he'd never come back."

She was quiet for a moment, watching the sleeping Dimitri in my arms.  
"When I found out I was pregnant with a boy, I'd been hoping for another girl. I didn't want a son, who would be expected to fight Strigoi, leave home to go to some far way place, to become a Guardian. My baby would most likely die young, fighting evil, and the only comfort would be that he'd died with honour. I didn't want this for my baby, and selfish as it was, I hoped he'd stay here, and not become a Guardian at all. Just become a shopkeeper or something."

She smiled. "But as he grew, I knew he'd never be happy with that. He knew his duty, and carried it out with pride and courage. When he stood up to his father, he was so brave for a young boy. As he grew into a young man, I knew without a doubt that he would be a great Guardian, and that he'd have to leave Baia to do that. So when he told me he was leaving Russia, after Ivan died, I bit my tongue and hid my tears, and let him make his own choices. I heard about the things he accomplished, and when I heard he'd died, I was proud of him. Of what he'd done, of the man he'd become, of the woman he'd found."

She stopped talking as Dimitri stirred, and when he lay still again she continued.  
"But when he stood there in the sunlight with you by his side 3 days ago, waiting for our reaction, I had never been happier to have had a son."  
I didn't know what to say in response to that. For a moment, I wished that I'd had a mother as caring as Olena. But then again, so much would have been different. Maybe I wouldn't have been in the car with the Dragomirs that day, and that would have changed everything.

I was saved from having to say anything by Dimitri stirring. I looked down as his eyes fluttered open.  
I brushed a strand of hair out of his face.  
"Feel any better?" I asked gently.

He smiled weakly. "A bit. The light doesn't hurt anymore, but my head still hurts a bit." He told me, voice rough.  
He must be feeling not normal if he was actually admitting to feeling bad.

I pushed his hair back off his forehead, and leaned down and kissed it gently. He closed his eyes again, and I continued to run my hand over his hair slowly.

"How are you feeling okay?" Dimitri asked.  
I laughed quietly.  
"I only had about 2 shots, I learned my lesson the last time. I left the rocket fuel for those used to space; for me it hurts too much to re-enter the atmosphere. As you are so perfectly demonstrating right now."

Dimitri groaned. "Glad to be of service."

* * *

An hour later, the others woke up, feeling perfect after their lie-ins, no worse for the vodka they'd consumed last night. Sonya and Karolina went off to work, and Viktoria hung around the house for a bit before going to meet Nikolai for lunch.  
I sat and watched movies in the living room with Dimitri most of the day whilst he waited out the hangover.

By late afternoon, he was feeling almost his normal self again, and Olena came in to tell him something.  
"Dimka, I remembered a box of your old things this morning. They're up in your room if you want to take anything, if you find it useful.

A little while later, we went to check it out. I sat next to Dimitri on the bed, the box between us.  
In there were several battered westerns, some of which he apparently hadn't read in a while, judging by the smile on his face.

There were a couple of bits of general clutter, and some clothes that hadn't been passed down to Paul.  
Dimitri lifted a T-shirt out, holding it up against his body. It was a dark blue sports shirt, with Cyrillic writing on it. I recognised the 'Academy' formatting of the text, and thought I could pick out the words 'St. Basils'.

It was also about 5 sizes too small for Dimitri.

"I think I had this when I was 13. Not much good now." Dimitri observed. Deciding there was no way he'd still get into it, he started to put it aside.

"Pass it here."  
Dimitri obliged, and I held it up against my own body before taking off my hoodie and slipping the shirt on. It fitted me perfectly.

He grinned. "You should keep that. You look really sexy in my clothes, and that actually fits."

The way he was looking at me made me really wish that his mom and grandmother were not downstairs, as I could think of some things that I wanted to do right now, all involving the bed we were currently sitting on.

Trying to de-rail my train of thought, I inspected the shirt.  
"Well, this is better quality than the St. Vlad's clothes they gave us. I may have to make a complaint to Kirova about sub-standard sports kit."

Dimitri looked amused, as if he knew the reason for my random comment, and was feeling the same way. He turned his attention back to the box, pulling out a hoodie next, also way too small for him now. It had the same writing on the front, but on the back there was also writing. I took it from his hands, turning it over to see what it said- Д. Бeпиков.

"Hey, I like this one Comrade." I pulled it over my head, turning so my back was to him. "Wearing your clothes, with your name on the back. What do you think of that?"

I felt Dimitri's arms wrap around my waist, and I was pulled against his hard chest. He rested his chin on my shoulder, and his breath was hot on my neck.  
"I like it a lot. But that's nothing compared to what's underneath." He kissed my neck and I leaned into him, closing my eyes for a moment.  
It seemed like years since we had done anything, though it was only a few days. Too long, anyway.

I turned in Dimitri's arms, crushing my lips to his, letting all the pent-up need for him take control.  
Dimitri was kneeling up on the bed next to me, and I fell back onto the pillows, back arched up towards him. He had his hands on either side of me, taking his weight, though his body was pressed against mine.

A few minutes later, I was just in my T shirt whilst Dimitri was shirtless. Screw the people downstairs; I'd try to be quiet.  
Dimitri's fingers had were just running along the line of my bra, about to rip my top off, when we were interrupted.

My phone was ringing from where it was on the bedside table.

"Leave it." Dimitri growled, and I was only too happy to comply.  
But on the 16th ring, I groaned and wriggled out from under him just enough to pick up the phone. Once it was in my hand, I had to resist the urge to throw it against the wall. But using all my carefully built self-control, I answered.

"What do you want?" I growled.  
_"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something?"_

I blinked in shock at the voice on the other end of the line.

* * *

**Ooh, who do you think is calling?**

**Review and get to be Dimitri's nurse ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey, thanks for all the reviews! I got loads of responses about who it was calling Rose, and some of the scenarios would have been hilarious. But though a couple of people were almost there, nobody got it right. I feel so powerful *evil genius laugh*:P  
So this chapter should start to tie up a few loose ends from Last Sacrifice**

* * *

"_Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something?"_  
I blinked in shock at the voice at the other end of the line...

**RPOV**

"Sydney?" I asked, though I knew full well it was her.  
All annoyance was gone from my voice and mind; I was worried about why Sydney was calling me.

"_Yes, it's me. I'm sorry, did I wake you?"  
_What the hell? Sydney was never one to apologise when she called at stupid hours in the morning, especially if it was important.

"No, you didn't wake me. I'm actually in Russia right now with Dimitri, so it's only afternoon."

"_Oh, I didn't realise you weren't at Court. I don't want to interrupt whatever you're doing, I could always just call back another time..."_  
She sounded almost relieved that she didn't have to talk to me, and I wanted to know what was going on.

"Okay, Sydney. What's the deal? Is anything wrong?"

"_No. Well, not exactly. I mean, I'm fine. I just need... some advice. From a friend."  
_Whoa, Sydney making a social call? Must be some pretty hard-core problem.  
"Oh. What do you want advice on. A guy?" I asked, teasing her, hoping to lighten the mood.

There was silence on the other end of the line.  
"Sydney! There's a guy? I swear, if he's hurting you, I'll be on the next flight home and come and punch his face in."

"_Slow down, Rose. And it's not like that."_

"Well, what is it like, then? Tell me."

"_It's kind of a long story."_

"Well, I've got time to listen. Not like I've got anything better to do. After you interrupted, that is." I joked. "Seriously though, tell me. Guaranteed if its guy problems, I've been there, done that, and come out the other side proudly sporting the T-shirt." I grinned at Dimitri as I said the last part.

"_Well, the story starts after I got out of that hotel room. My future with the Alchemists was uncertain to say the least, but it happened so that there was a problem that needed dealing with in my area that I had the experience to deal with. So they sent me along with barely a slap on the wrist and a stern warning.  
So they tell me that there's a Moroi that's been arrested by the human authorities for being drunk and disorderly, and getting into a fight with the bartender when they refused to give him any more alcohol. He also threatened to 'bite anyone who came any closer'."_

I drew a sharp breath- that sort of thing could get a Moroi in serious trouble.  
_"So I go down to the police station and bail this guy out, expecting that to be the end of it. The problem was that he'd been quite violent, and he couldn't leave the state.  
So I booked a hotel for this guy, but he was still intoxicated, and hadn't had blood in days. So I organised a feeder, and was planning on leaving after that."_

Sydney must have hated calling the feeder, but she was that dedicated to her job.  
_"But this guy was in really bad shape. He practically begged me not to leave, 'not like her'. I knew that if I did leave, he'd just go to the nearest bar and end up back in prison again. So I called the Alchemists for advice, and they said to stay with him, and try getting in contact with his family to take over. I asked him for phone numbers, but he refused to tell me anything, saying that if Court found out where he was, then he'd leave right then. I felt so sorry for this guy, so I decided to stay for another few days, since I didn't really want to go back to the Alchemists."_

Despite Sydney hating all vampires, her compassion would prevent her from leaving somebody who needed her help.  
"_That was 3 weeks ago now. I've been staying with this guy ever since, dealing with the bail terms and smoothing everything over. Since then, we've sort of become... friends. He's had a really tough time, and for a Royal Moroi, he isn't like the rest."_

Wait, a Royal? Befriending Sydney? He really must be something different.  
"And this is where it gets complicated?" I asked knowingly.

"_Yeah. I mean, I really like this guy. I haven't had a lot of friends in my life, but he doesn't judge me, and I've spent practically all my time with him. He drives me crazy, but at the same time, he understands me. I can't help but like him. And a couple of days ago..."_

Her silence said more than words ever could.  
"Something happened between the two of you?"  
There was a pause.

"_Yes. We were talking about Rome, and how I'd always wanted to go there, but didn't have the money. He it was a place he wanted to visit one day, and had the money, but didn't want to go to the 'city of love' alone, and had never had the urge to just go. We had this weird connection moment-thing, and I was thinking how I'd like to go with him, and I knew that he was thinking about going with me. Then he said; "But maybe now I've found my inspiration." And then he kissed me."_

I tried to keep my voice level.  
"And was that okay with you? Did you kiss him back?"

"_Yes. And I wanted him to kiss me, so badly. I'd been thinking about it for a while. I mean, not just because he's incredibly good looking and everything, but... just... because."  
_I waited to let her continue.  
"_Rose, this is crazy. He's a vampire, a Royal Moroi. We can't be together, but I want to be. When I'm with him, I feel a tiny bit reckless. Like I don't care what the Alchemists think, that if anyone has a problem we could just run away to Rome and hide. The strangest part; I can imagine a life with him easier than I can imagine spending the rest of my days working for the Alchemists.  
Rose, this will pass, right? I mean, I've barely known him a month. It's not like I'm in love with him or anything. How do I make this go away? We can't be together, for so many reasons, I mean, he's basically the definition of 'bad news'. Tell me how to make it go back to how it was before."_

I couldn't believe this. Sydney, innocent, sensible Sydney, had fallen for a bad boy. I sighed, falling back onto the pillows. I out the phone on loud-speaker so Dimitri could hear as well.  
"Do you want to be like you were before?"

"_No."_  
The answer was instantaneous, but so was the follow-up.  
"_Yes. I don't know, Rose. I like feeling this new side of me, but I'm so scared. I just want to be friends with him, I can handle that. Just tell me, when you began falling for Dimitri, how did you keep it hidden? I know you fought your relationship becoming any more that friendship, how did you do that? How do you stop yourself thinking about someone whenever they're standing right there in front of you, and stop them from seeing everything you're thinking?"_

I just shook my head, laughing quietly.  
"You want the truth?"

I could practically see her nodding furiously.  
"_Yes."_

"You can't. Once they're in your head, they're gonna stay. You can try and fight it, but in the long run, it'll only make it harder to control, and it'll all burst out at once. As for him seeing what you're thinking, you can't stop that, either. If he can see into your mind, then any effort to stop them will be like trying to stop an 18-wheeler with tracing paper. He'll see straight through it, and push it aside anyway. When someone can read you that easily, there's a reason."  
I waited for her to take this in.

"_So, what are you saying I should do?"_

I sighed.  
"You wanted my advice, so I'll give it to you. I'm your friend, Sydney. I only want what's best for you. In this case, I have to say go for it. If you can't fight it, which you can't, then just go with it. Believe me: fighting something like that is not fun. It'll drive you slowly insane until one of you breaks, and then you'll realise that you wasted time you could have saved to be together. There are too many broken hearts out there already, we don't need more to add to that total."

"_You really think should just go for it? Even if it ruins both of our reputations, my career, and possibly everything we've ever worked towards?"_

"Listen, Sydney. I've been there, I really do know what you're going through. I know it's hard, and scary taking risks- and that's my area of expertise. But I also know what it feels like to know all of that, to take that risk just in time to lose it all. But taking that risk turned out to be the best thing I ever did."

"_I know Rose, but that's what I'm worried about. I saw you in Russia, what you were going through. You're so strong, I don't know if I'd be able to cope with that. And you say that now, but you have Dimitri back now, forgive me for saying your perspective is a little biased."_

I could understand where she was coming from with that. I'd have probably thought the same thing to be honest.  
"I see what you mean, but do you remember that conversation we had? After the ... service?"  
I didn't wait for her to answer.  
"You told me you'd never been in love, that you couldn't imagine it. Then there was that silence with the unspoken 'was it worth it?' Were the good times with Dimitri worth the pain I felt then? And I said yes, of course they were.  
Even then, with nothing left, I'd have given you the same advice. So take the chance now, because you might not get it again."

Sydney was quiet.  
_"You're right, as always. But what do I do next? I have zero experience in these things, and I don't want to mess it up."  
_She sounded so unsure, rare for her.

"Calm down. Just carry on as you were before. There's no need to run off and marry this guy. Take it slow- if it's meant to happen, it will. Trust me."

She let out a loud breath, and I could imagine her blowing her hair out of her eyes.  
_"Thanks, Rose. Despite being an evil creature of the night and all that, you're a great friend. Say hi to Dimitri for me, and congratulations on the whole getting back together thing. Even I could see how perfect you were together."_

"Bye, Sydney. And thank you for all your help in the past. We wouldn't be here now without you."

"_All in a day's work."_ Sydney said, before ending the call.  
I just stared at the phone in my hand for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"Now there's a story to kick even Lissa off the front page. Sydney Sage goes rogue, a rebel at heart."  
Dimitri's face showed he was just as stunned by the turn of events as I was.

Maybe it was the still-there sexual tension between us, the feeling of knowing how lucky we were to have got everything now, or the sheer absurdity of the situation. Whatever it was, I burst out laughing, and Dimitri soon joined me.

We sat there, on his bed, laughing our asses off. I was practically crying, leaning against Dimitri's side for support. He had one arm around me, resting his cheek on my head.

I looked up as the door opened. Viktoria stood there, looking at us with a completely bemused expression.  
"What the..?" She asked, and it set Dimitri off laughing again, and I naturally followed.

Viktoria shook her head.  
"You two are so weird. Dinner's ready, I'm leaving now before I get infected too."  
With that, Vika turned and walked away.

A minute later, Dimitri stopped laughing and I was wheezing beside him, trying to remember how to breathe normally.  
"Why was I laughing? What was even funny?" I asked.

"I don't know, I just laughed because you were. Alcohol does that to me, like a delayed effect."

I sniggered. "Stage one- you got the giggs."

Dimitri looked at me blankly, not getting the Jump Street reference. Then again, I doubted he'd ever seen the film. I'd have to rectify that when we got home.

"Come on, let's go eat. All that laughing wore me out."

As we entered the kitchen, Viktoria was just talking about us.  
"They were just sitting there, on the bed, laughing like crazy people! Then I asked what was funny, and it made Dimka laugh even more! It doesn't make sense..."

I walked up behind Viktoria and stole a carrot from her plate.

"But that's what made it funny." I explained, sitting down beside her. She didn't seem impressed with my answer.

"But what was it that _was_ funny in the first place?" She asked again. "I mean, it must have been funny to get Dimka to laugh like that."

Dimitri shrugged.  
"Rose started laughing over an... unexpected phone call from our friend. When she started laughing, so did I. That's all really."

"That's just weird."

"Well, this is Rose we're talking about." Dimitri told her.  
If I hadn't been so busy shovelling food into my mouth as fast as I could without looking like a pig, I'd have snapped a comeback to that. As it was, Karolina hit him on the back of the head.

"I'm sorry Rose; I don't know where my brother picked up such terrible social skills. It wasn't from us, I can assure you."

Dimitri looked down in shame, before looking up at me through his eyelashes (which were unfairly long for a guy). Even though he was just messing around, I could practically feel my internal organs turn to mush. The things this man did to me.

"I'm sorry Roza. You're not weird; I just don't know how to behave in the act of such a beautiful woman."

I leaned in close, like I was going to kiss him. I looked into his eyes, and he was too distracted to notice what I was actually thinking. Just as it looked like I was about to kiss him, I reached up and patted his cheek, before pulling away.

"Flattery gets you nowhere, Comrade. Better luck next time."  
I turned my attention back to my delicious meal, and the others laughed at my dismissal.

"Aaw, Dimka. Don't look do surprised, you should have seen that one coming." Karolina teased.

"It's impossible to know what Roza will do next. The best you can do is be prepared for anything and try and limit the damage, which will no doubt be great."

I bumped Dimitri's shoulder with mine.  
"You're so sweet. You know the way to my heart is to warn people how dangerous I am. You're forgiven."

Viktoria looked between the two of us again.  
"Actually, he was right. You are weird, you both are."

"I never denied it. No point trying to hide the obvious." I told her.

* * *

As I sat on our bed that evening, I stared blankly at the back of the book Dimitri was currently reading. I could recognise a few of the Cyrillic letters- D,M,I,T,R,O,Z,A, B,E,L,I,K,V. Obviously.

I heard the door open, and Dimitri came in wearing just a towel around his waist, damp hair clinging to his face.  
Overall, too sexy for words.

As my eyes roamed over his bare chest, I realised I was probably staring a bit. Then again, I was allowed. And a body that fine deserved to be appreciated.

"See something you like, Rose?" Dimitri asked.

I tore my eyes away from his abs, lingering on his body before meeting his eyes.  
"1- that's my line. 2- Hell yeah."

He grinned, before turning around and pulling on a pair of boxers. Sadly, the towel stayed on until the shorts were fully on. It had been wayyy too long since...

I was pulled out of memories of our last time before coming here when Dimitri sat down on the bed beside me.  
"Don't look at me like that. You were exactly the same when I got out the shower earlier." I told him, and he smirked even more.  
"You can't blame me." I said defensively. "All week I've been listening to you speak Russian, and your accent has been getting stronger and stronger."

He looked confused. "What's that got to do with anything?"

That man obviously had no clue what he was doing to me. Well, two could play at that game.  
I traced his abs with my fingers, just barely running my thumb along the line of his boxers. I deliberately didn't look at his face.

"Because your accent is so damn sexy." I looked up into his eyes. "And normally you sound like that when we're getting down and dirty. It's a total turn-on, but and I keep wanting to jump you in front of your family, half way through a conversation. It's completely unfair."

His eyes were dark and looked back at me intensely.  
"Sometimes you've got to know when to give in." He told me, voice low and accent thick. His words had a double meaning- both saying that he would win this game, and that he wanted to forget that his family was in the house and just get on with what we both wanted. I wasn't the only one being driven crazy here.

"You know me, Comrade. I don't give in that easily."  
I ran my fingers across his chest and felt him shudder slightly. I knew I had won.  
Dimitri crushed his lips to mine, and I only resisted for a second, to show him who the winner was.

* * *

**Ooh, naughty! :P  
Ok, so I'm thinking about putting up a new story set like 15 years after these ALS stories with the gang's kids. I know there are already some, but every one is different. I would have done it sooner but I saw somebody else had just done a next generation story so I didn't want to step on their toes :) Tell me what you think.**

**Review and get to see Dimitri in a towel ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Still don't own VA.**

**Amanda-Your wish is my command :D Protective Dimka coming up...**

**DPOV**

I woke up the next morning when I heard the bedroom door crack open. I was tired; we'd gone to sleep late last night. Though we'd stuck to Rose's rule about no sex in my mother's house, we'd got pretty close. I blinked, the light uncomfortable.

I rolled away from Rose and sat up, looking towards the door.  
Paul was peeking through the gap, and grinned when he saw I was awake. Rose stirred next to me.

Paul ran into the room and I just had time to brace myself before he jumped onto the bed, landing on my chest.  
Roza was smirking beside me.

"Hey, Paul." She greeted him, I'd had all the breath knocked out of me.

"Aunt Roza, Uncle Dimka. Can we go sledging today? Mama said to come and ask you. Please?" He begged.

Before I could answer, I heard Karolina calling from the hall.  
"Paul? Where are you?"

"Here mama." He replied.

Karolina opened the door slowly. She sighed when she saw her son.  
"Paul, when I told you to ask them, I didn't mean barge into their room and wake them up."

Paul looked down at the chastisement.

Rose noticed this and spoke.  
"That's fine. We need to get ready if we're going sledging, right?"

Paul bounced in excitement, crushing my chest again.  
"Thank you! I'll go get Zoya!"  
He jumped off the bed and ran to the door, grabbing Karolina's hand and dragging her away. She gave Rose and me and apologetic smile before disappearing through the doorway.

I turned to see Roza smiling after them. I put my arm around her and she shuffled closer.  
"We don't have to get up yet..." I suggested.

She sighed. "Nah, we should. You don't want to disappoint your nephew, do you? Anyway, it'll take me half an hour to get all my layers on."

I groaned, but lifted my arm as she crawled off the bed.

* * *

It was an hour later that we left the house and began walking to the big hill a short distance away from the house. There were a couple of other kids there, but we mostly had the area to ourselves.  
Our little party consisted of Paul, Zoya, Karolina, Viktoria, Rose and I.

We took turns sharing sledges, and it all went smoothly until Rose and I shared one.  
We ended up crashing near the bottom of the hill, running over a rock which tipped us off. We rolled a few metres down until we ended up in a tangled heap in the snow.

Everyone was in hysterics, including Roza and I. But as we tried to stand up, I ended up leaning down over her, and sparks jumped between us.  
I kissed the end of her nose, and finding she was cold, decided to warm her up with a deeper kiss.  
Her lips soon warmed under mine, but we broke apart after we heard Paul's shouting coming closer.

* * *

When we got back to the house, Rose was the first to shower, after shivering all the way home.  
After she was done, Vika dragged her off into town. Apparently she'd not done enough shopping the last time they went.

Sonya was at work, mama was grocery shopping and the Karolina was watching cartoons with the kids.

I still had something to do myself, which I wasn't particularly looking forward to, but couldn't avoid.

I left the house, heading across the street. When I reached the blue-painted door, I knocked, and it opened a few seconds later.

"Uh, privet, Dimitri. Do you want me to get Denis?" Nikolai stuttered.

"I'm here to see you, actually." I said, keeping my cool.

Nikolai opened the door wider, and I followed him into the house. He turned left, heading into the sitting room.

"So, is Rose not with you?"

I shook my head and smiled slightly, knowing that Nikolai would be pleased to have a buffer between us. But I hadn't brought her since I knew she already thought Nikolai was good for Viktoria. Plus, she would make fun of me for doing this interrogation when one of my own was looming.

Pushing these thoughts aside, I sat down on the sofa next to Nikolai. I'd spent quite a lot of time here in the past, but hadn't been in the house since Ivan...

"Would you like a drink or something..?" Nikolai asked awkwardly.

"No thanks. I won't be staying long. There's just something I want to talk to you about."

Nikolai forced a smile onto his face, but I could practically see him cringing on the inside.

"You want to talk to me about Viktoria and I?" He asked.

Since the answer was pretty obvious, I just cut to it.  
"What are your intentions with my sister?" I asked, trying not to sound like Abe when he had managed to get in a few pre-hunting trip threats. "Viktoria is very important to me."

Nikolai's face softened into a look I was almost certain crossed my face when talking about Rose.  
"Dimitri, she is the most important thing in my life. I'd never hurt her. I'd die before I let anything happen to her. I'll protect her from everything, because I wouldn't be able to live with myself otherwise."

For a second I considered asking more questions about them... 'together'... but decided against it. Partly since it was legal and there was nothing I could do, partly because I really didn't want to know what my little sister was doing... in that area.

Actually, that was all I needed to know. I really didn't need to hear any details. I could only hope Abe and Janine would feel the same.

"Alright. That's what I want to hear. But if you hurt her, I will hunt you down and make you regret ever being born." I said dangerously.

"Understood." Said Nikolai, face white.

"And I'll bring Rose with me."  
The last of the colour drained from Nikolai's cheeks as I mentioned Rose, and I was satisfied.  
"Okay. Just remember that, and I'm sure we'll be just fine."

We shook hands, and before I left, I turned back.

"You always were a good kid, Kolya. I'm glad my sister ended up with you over anyone else in this town."

He got the underlying message, and smiled wryly.

"Me too, Dimitri. Me too."

When I got back to the house, I didn't feel like joining the others, so went up to my room.

I was about to pick up my book when I saw Roza's old iPod lying on the bedside table. It was the one she'd apparently left here last time. I picked it up and switched it on, and when it asked for the pass code, I tried her birthday- her default code for anything. It worked, and I went to music.

I tried looking through the albums and artists, but I'd never heard of most of them, except some of Roza's favourites, which I would not choose to listen to of my own accord. A few were alright, but I decided to go for one of the playlists that she had set, thinking that the best ones would be on one of them.

As I skimmed through the playlist names, past _funny, happy, workout, Lissa, party, _and _rage,_ I stopped at the last one on the list- '_X'.  
_Since it seemed different to the others, I chose that one.

I lay back on the bed and put the playlist on shuffle, and the first song started playing.  
It didn't sound like something Roza would normally listen to, and the second song didn't either. With the music still playing, I looked at the names of the songs that were actually on the playlist.  
**Slipped Away, Talking to the Moon, Last Kiss **(_PJ_),** My Immortal, Broken, Whisky Lullaby, Fix a Heart, Comatose, Just a Dream, Last Kiss **(_TS_),** Because of You, Shadow of the Day, Cry, Valentine's Day, Fix You, Iris, Dark Paradise.  
**I realised that these were songs she had downloaded after I was turned. There was no hope in them, just heartache and loneliness.

I almost had tears in my eyes by the time the last song finished. Music was supposed to make you feel better- if this was good for Roza, then I could barely imagine how terrible she must have felt. If it had been me in her place, and vice versa... well, I don't know how I'd have coped. When she was shot, and those 8 hours when she was in surgery, were the worst in my life. But there had been hope, I hadn't had to go hunt her down, and though it had seemed like forever, it hadn't been.  
I was brought out of my dark thoughts when I heard the front door slam downstairs. Roza and Vika were back.

I turned off the iPod and put it back down on the table, rubbed my hand across my eyes and picked up my book, staring at the page, but not actually reading anything.

A minute later, Roza came into the room.  
"Hey, Comrade. Watcha doing?"  
I smiled at her over the top of my book.

She came and sat beside me on the bed.  
"Are you alright?" She asked quietly. Of course she knew. She always knew.

"I'm fine, Roza." I assured her, but she looked sceptical. She didn't push me on the matter though, just linked her arm through mine and kissed my cheek.

I let out a sigh and decided to tell her half of what was bothering me.  
"Tomorrow's our last day here, and I'm going to miss them. I don't know when I'll see them again.

Roza looked at me sympathetically, rubbing my arm.  
"You know Lissa will try to force leave on us. It only takes 10 hours to fly here, and we have a private jet at our disposal. If you wanted to, we could come here and spend a couple of days, and be here and back in 24 hours. Or they could come visit Court sometime. Viktoria would love that."  
She paused to kiss me.  
"Come on. Don't worry about tomorrow- just make the most of today."

I had to laugh at that.  
"And that wasn't a Zen life lesson?" I teased.

She glared.  
"An annoying habit I picked up from an equally annoying person."

"You think that's annoying..."  
I grabbed Rose around the waist and started tickling her.

"No, stop, stop!" She begged.  
After she gained her composure, she gave me her best death glare. I grinned back, until I felt her touch my side. Now I regretted starting this war, because there was one spot on my body where I was unbelievably ticklish. And she knew exactly where it was, and was going to take revenge.

* * *

**Sorry for the short & choppy chapter- short of having quality family time, there isn't much left for R & D to do in Russia. Don't worry, things will liven up once they're back in the states :)**

**These are the songs & artists that were on Rose's playlist.  
If you can listen to them all, one after the other, alone, in the dark, & not cry, then... well. I can't. I listened to them as I was writing this & after I finished, & I was bawling my eyes out after Last Kiss & Just a Dream. Then again, I cried at the end of LS. Because it was so happy. It was like a freaking rainstorm when Mason died, Rose says to take Tasha's offer, Dimitri turned, Dimitri's funeral, 'Love fades...'- this series in general makes me cry. But I love it :) I'll stop rambling now...**

**My Immortal-Evanescence  
Last Kiss -Pearl Jam  
Broken -Amy Lee & Sleether  
Whisky Lullaby -Brad Paisley  
Fix a Heart -Demi Lovato  
Comatose -Skillet  
Slipped Away -Avril Lavigne  
Just a Dream -Carrie Underwood  
Last Kiss -Taylor Swift  
Because of You -Kelly Clarkson  
Shadow of the Day -Linkin Park  
Cry Kelly -Clarkson  
Talking to the Moon -Bruno Mars  
Valentines Day -Linkin Park  
Fix You -Coldplay  
Dark Paradise -Lana Del Ray**

**Review and go sledging with Dimitri :) **


	10. Chapter 10

**Ok, so this is a really short chapter, because it probably should have gone on the end of the last one. I'll add the next proper one tomorrow :) Thanks for reading.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA.**

* * *

**RPOV**

On our last day in Russia, all of Dimitri's family stayed home. It was a Saturday, so no one had to work, and we spent the day talking and laughing, and just generally making the most of our remaining time.  
I tried to file everything away in my mind- every laugh and smile, as I wasn't sure when the next time we could see them would be. I had a feeling our lives back at Court would be getting a lot more hectic soon.

Though we had originally planned to leave around lunchtime, the lure of Olena's cooking had us sitting round the dinner table one last time, piling delicious food onto my plate. Though the air was filled with laughter and conversation, and to the outside observer we would look perfectly normal, there was an undercurrent of bittersweet sadness. I could only imagine what Dimitri's family must be thinking now- last time he'd been sitting at their dinner table ready to America, he almost didn't come back.

Though we put it off for as long as possible, eventually it was time to collect the bags we (Dimitri) had packed earlier that morning and say our goodbyes. We didn't want to risk leaving after dark and facing down Strigoi lurking on the roads. Our private flight may be flexible, but even that had limits.

Nearly everyone had tears in their eyes when the time came, except Yeva and Viktoria. Yeva because she never cried, Vika because I think she was trying to look strong in front of Dimitri. I had no doubt the hidden tears would fall once we were gone and she was alone in her room.

Something that had especially moved me was Paul coming up to his uncle and saying, "Are you going to come back?" And when Dimitri told him yes, of course, Paul made him promise that he would. I'd been included in this sentiment as well, and we'd both sworn to Paul that we would be back.

After hugging Viktoria and wishing her all the best with Nikolai, I only had Olena left to say goodbye to. Dimitri was still trapped in a huge hug from Sonya, with Zoya clinging to his leg.

Olena held her arms out to me, and I happily stepped into her embrace. I was so glad that through Dimitri I was able to include these amazing people in my life, and that Olena had accepted me so readily.  
"It was so nice to have you back Roza. And I can never thank you enough for bringing Dimitri back to me."

I pulled away gently and smiled at her.  
"I won't say that it was nothing, but it was worth it."  
I looked over to where Dimitri was holding Alicia and Zoya, one in each arm. I allowed my happiness to show on my face. "I don't know what I'd do without him."

Olena noticed the way I looked at Dimitri and smiled.  
"You know, I think I have seen Dimka smile more in the last week with you than I have in the last 10 years. It is truly amazing how happy you have made him. I'll always be grateful for that."

I hugged her again, and she whispered to me; "Please be careful, Roza. And look after Dimitri for me."

"Always." I promised, and held me tighter for a moment before kissing my cheek before letting me go.

As Dimitri said goodbye to his mother, Yeva came to speak to me. I'd already said goodbye, but it seemed the old woman had more to say. Then again, when didn't she?  
"Do not worry, child. The future is bright for you and those closest to you. Keep an open mind and an open heart, for gifts are given to those who are ready to receive them. Nothing is impossible."

Well, that didn't seem all doom and gloom, unlike my last run-ins with psychics, so I was pretty happy with that. After all, who didn't want a bright future and gifts?

After delivering her message, and giving me a knowing look that held more knowledge than it seemed possible for one person to possess, she went to stand beside Viktoria as Dimitri came towards me.  
"Ready?" He asked.

I nodded, not entirely trusting my voice not to break right now.  
Everyone walked to the car with us.

"Don't forget to call when you get back to Court. In fact, don't forget to call at any time. Or write or email or something. And please give Vasilisa my thanks for her part in the restoration." Olena reminded us.

"Of course." I assured her.

Vika pushed her way forward.  
"Maybe I can come to America soon. I'd love to see Court, or anywhere outside Russia, really."

I smiled.  
"That would be great. You can meet the gang, and I'll take you shopping in Missoula. It'll be great." I promised.

After another round of final goodbyes, we drove off. I leaned out the window, waving until we turned a corner, and the house was out of sight.

I slumped back against the seat and looked over at Dimitri.  
"You alright?" I asked quietly.

He nodded, but I could see he was upset. I would be too, if I had to leave my family without knowing how long it would be until I saw them again. Hell, I was sad to leave Baia, so I could only imagine how much it must suck for him.  
"We'll see them soon." Dimitri said, trying to convince himself more than me.

I laid my hand over his free one, giving and receiving comfort from a single, simple touch.  
"Sure we will. Now we just have to deal with _my _family."

* * *

**I know it was short, but the next chapter is the hunting trip. We're not at the end yet :)**

**Please check out my other story if you have time- Next Generation: Change. **

**Review and get to hold hands with Dimitri :) **


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for all the reviews, I hope I have managed to do his chapter justice.**

**I DON'T OWN VAMPIRE ACADEMY. RICHELLE MEAD DOES.**

* * *

_**Back in the states, 3 days after their return. This is the hunting trip. Enjoy x**_

**RPOV**

I awoke to the sound of an alarm. I waited in annoyance for Dimitri to turn it off, but it was coming from my side of the bed. I stuck my hand out, groping for the offending object. Once it was in my grasp, without even opening my eyes, I threw the clock against the wall.

At least I thought it was the wall.

I heard someone grunt in pain.  
"Aren't I going to get enough of this from your parents later?"

My eyes flew open and I sat up.  
Dimitri was bending standing outside the bathroom door, rubbing his shin.

I cringed.  
"I'm so sorry. I always knew alarm clocks were evil. Think of the service to society, and me, you've done by allowing that one to be destroyed." I joked, hating to see that I'd caused Dimitri pain, and trying to distract him.

"All in a day's work." He said drily.  
I didn't really listen, I was focussing on the fact he was standing there with a towel wrapped around his waist.  
I suddenly registered his earlier words about my parents, and looked over at the calendar on the wall. Over today's date I had drawn a rather impressive mushroom cloud in red marker.  
"Shit, what time is it?" I asked, jumping out of bed and scrambling to find my phone.

"Don't worry; it's only 9:00. They won't be here for another hour yet." Dimitri reassured me whilst searching through his wardrobe.

Yes, today was the day of the hunting trip. Dimitri, in the wilderness, with my parents, with firearms. He was screwed.  
I pulled on my Guardian uniform that was folded on the end of the bed, where Dimitri had obviously put it for me earlier.

Despite my protests, Abe and Janine had refused to allow me to accompany them on the trip, preferring to hear Dimitri's side of the story without my input. Apparently, they thought fiction was more my style, whilst Dimitri was a more reliable source.  
The fact that they were right didn't make me any happier about letting him go without me.

I looked up to see Dimitri wearing the clothes that had been dropped off for him yesterday, especially for his little trip. I had to say, he looked good. Probably not what Abe had in mind when he picked them out, but whatever.

I went to the kitchenette to make breakfast. Well, I say 'make'. What I mean is putting cereal in a bowl, making coffee and searching for donuts.

Once I had found food, I sat down at our small breakfast table. Any other meals we ate in the main dining room that we shared with Lissa and Christian.

Dimitri came in and raised an eyebrow when he saw me half way through my breakfast.  
"If throwing things at me will get you out of bed this fast every day; then by all means do it. This must be a record."

I passed him the cereal as he sat down.  
"Just spending as much time with you as possible. I don't know if you're going to come back in one piece or not once Abe's done with you."

He rolled his eyes.  
"Don't be so melodramatic."

I stared.  
"So you can honestly say that you're not just the tiniest bit scared?" I asked incredulously.

Dimitri seemed very interested in his cereal, and did not answer.

"Oh, so you _are_ scared."  
He remained silent.

"Don't worry, Comrade. They won't kill you- they're too afraid of me. Anyway, you could take a Moroi and a midget any day." I grinned.

Dimitri looked doubtful.  
"When that Moroi is _Zmey,_ and the 'midget' is Guardian Hathaway, I doubt I could beat them."

"You'll be fine. Mom only punches family if they question her reasons for choosing my dad. Don't mention her picking Abe because he was the soundest evolutionary choice, and you'll be just fine."

Dimitri shook his head and rolled his eyes at me.  
"So that was the reason she lost her temper and hit you. I never did find out."

Truth was, it was a stupid and childish thing to say to her. I knew all too well that you couldn't choose who you fell in love with. But to cover up my stupidity, and my nerves about him leaving, I cracked a joke.  
"Well, I thought I was way too perfect to have been created by chance. There had to be some sort of planning for the awesomest daughter ever."

"It seems they missed out 'modesty' from the list of traits that the perfect person should have."

"Modesty sucks. I like to give people fair warning on my skills in advance so they know what they're up against, for their own safety."

"Well, it's my safety I'm worried about, and for once, the threat isn't you."  
Just as Dimitri admitted that, there was a knock at the door. It didn't sound like Lissa- too loud, too businesslike.

"Oh damn. They're early. Oh well, time to cowboy up."  
I grinned at Dimitri, and he gave me a half-hearted eyebrow raise.

I walked over to him and brushed the hair back that had fallen out of his ponytail.

"I love you." I told him, and pressed a fiery kiss to his lips. Just as it got a little more heated, there was another knock, more demanding this time.

"Alright!" I shouted, walking to the door.  
I wrenched it open, stake in hand.  
"Oh, so it's not an angry mob of Strigoi threatening to bang the door down."I said sarcastically, lowering the weapon.

Abe flashed his fangs in a grin.  
"No, it's worse. Especially for Belikov."

glared at them both.  
"Seriously, if he doesn't come back to me in the _exact_ condition in which I gave him to you..." I trailed off as I felt a hand rest on my shoulder.

"Guardian Hathaway. Mr. Mazur." Dimitri greeted them.

"Guardian Belikov." My mom replied curtly.

Abe's greeting, though less directly threatening, was also more concerning.  
"Ah, Dimitri! I've been looking forward to this for a while! It's going to be a very... interesting trip."  
I didn't like the way he said 'interesting'. At all.

There was a moment of awkward silence that Dimitri was the one to finally break.  
"So I guess we should get going then."  
Mom and Abe shifted a bit and Dimitri bent to pick up his overnight bag.

Putting it over his shoulder, he turned to me.  
"I'll see you tomorrow, Roza. I love you."

Fully aware that my parents were there, I pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, one hand on his chest, over his heart.

"I love you too, Dimitri. Come home safe."  
A hint of a smile crossed his lips, despite the warning in my voice.

I focused my attention to the potential threats in the doorway.  
"OK, I want him back by 6 O'clock tomorrow evening latest. We have an evening shift Guarding Lissa."  
I had deliberately set that up so they had a reason to bring him back.

"Yes, daughter. Anything else?" Abe asked, mocking me.

I just grinned back.  
"Have fun!"

With that, I shut the door on them, and used the adjoining door to go to Lissa's apartment. Man, I'd hate to be my friend today, but it would be worse tomorrow. Better get the girl bonding out of the way before my parents _really _had a reason to hate Dimitri.

I was in for a looong wait.

**DPOV**

It was completely silent as we walked through the palace, you could have cut the air with the hunting knife strapped to Abe's belt. Or the stake at Janine's hip.  
I tried to ignore the weapons as we made our way to Abe's black car parked outside. The chauffeur was waiting in the driver's seat and Abe took the passenger seat, leaving me in the back with Janine.

Throughout the journey my relationship with Rose was not mentioned, and it was almost like Janine and I were just colleagues again- aside from the ever mounting tension.  
We discussed her current leave from Lord Szelsky, and what she was planning to do. Janine had stayed close to Court recently to be closer to Rose as she healed, and she was considering getting a permanent job here. She was nearing the common retirement age for Guardians- those that survived this long, that was. But of course, she was not a common Guardian; she was Janine Hathaway. Of course she wouldn't be ready to give up her stake just yet.

"Still got room for a few more tattoos yet." She joked, which surprised me. It was a new thing to see Guardian Hathaway joking, especially about her job which she was normally so serious about. Maybe it was because she was spending more time around Rose lately.

Janine seemed to remember why we were here, and all traces of humour vanished from her features as her Guardian mask slid back into place.

Silence descended over the car again, but fortunately it was only a matter of minutes before we pulled into a mostly deserted car park, a long way down a forest track. Ours was the only car here, aside from an old blue pickup and an unidentifiable pile of rusting metal under a large tree.

I checked my watch and saw that it was now 3:00- we had been travelling for around 5 hours.  
We stepped out of the car and Abe nodded to the chauffeur, who turned and drove away.  
My heart sank- no escape car, and even if I could hotwire the old pickup, I didn't have a clue where we were, anyway.

I was brought out of all thoughts of escape by Abe clapping me on the back.  
"Come on, Belikov. Let's go find our accommodation for the night."

Our 'accommodation' turned out to be an old hunting lodge located a few miles away from the car park. As Abe fired up the generator, the lights came on slowly.

We were standing in a large entrance hall, the mounted heads of various animals lining the walls. Abe pointed to a door on the right hand side.  
"That's your room, Belikov. Go get settled, and we'll get something to eat in about an hour. Then we'll leave; it's about an hour's walk to the spot where we're going. We'll make it there for sunrise."  
With that, Abe and Janine disappeared through the doorway on our left.

Shifting my bag on my shoulder, I started the walk down the long hallway, trying to ignore the glass eyes of the animals that seemed to glare at me from high above.

I dropped down on the bed, kicking my bag into the corner. I had an hour to myself, and I decided to try and sleep for half an hour.  
Since it was currently dark outside, early morning for humans, on our time it was early evening.  
The animals would only come out during the sunlight hours, so we had to stay up at 'night'.  
I normally wouldn't have a problem with this, I enjoyed being awake when the sun was, but not in these circumstances.

I hadn't slept well last night; the stress of this trip causing me to have a Strigoi nightmare, the first in weeks. It had been more bearable that they had been before I had Roza back- I hadn't killed anyone in it- but the quality of sleep had been poor, and I would be up all night tonight. I didn't want to seem week in front of Abe and Janine and sleep in the car on the way home.

So setting a timer for half an hour, I took advantage of my 'skills' that Rose envied so much, and lay back on the bed, willing myself to sleep.  
The dream only got worse.

**DPOV**

After an awkward meal, Abe made a point of unlocking a cupboard and letting me see the huge array of weapons there. It was a little unnerving to see just how many guns my girlfriend's father had. Though, it wasn't like he could get much more dangerous than he already was.  
Abe threw a gun to me and I caught it, strapping it over my back.

We set off through the dark forest, climbing a steep hill that just went up and up.  
When we finally reached the top, we were above the treetops, but there was a large clearing beneath us. A silver stream shimmered in the half-light, and I could see why we had climbed so long to get here. There would be many deer passing through here, and we would have the perfect view of them. I wasn't particularly keen on the idea of shooting anything, especially from here. It would seem like an ambush on defenceless creatures, but I couldn't exactly say that in front of Abe and Janine- they'd probably laugh, then shoot me instead.

Since there was no sign of life in the valley, the three of us sat on a large, mossy rock. I was trapped in the middle of the two of them, and wondered briefly if I'd have a chance of escape if it came to that. Perhaps scaling the rock face in front of me...

"So, Belikov. You first met my daughter when you tracked her down and took her back to the Academy, with Vasilisa?" Abe asked, starting at the very beginning. That was not a good sign; they were making sure they did not miss any details.

"Yes. We had been tracking them for about a month, and found their locations a week before we brought them back.

Abe nodded, taking his time before saying anything else. Janine cut in then.  
"Did the attraction start straight away?" _Yeah, just like your questions._ I heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Rose in my mind.

"That depends on what you mean by 'attraction'. As soon as I saw her, I thought she was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen, and I admired her dedication and the fire in her eyes, but nothing more than that. She was a 17 year old runaway that I was supposed to bring back with the Dragomir princess. But even then I knew the rumours I'd heard were not entirely true."

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"Well, I saw her giving blood to Lissa, and how she was determined to fight every one of us to keep her safe... those weren't the selfish actions of a girl who kidnapped her friend to live a life of parties and escape responsibility."

"I see." Abe said, and Janine looked uncomfortable. I'd understood more about Rose in 5 minutes than she had been able to see in almost 18 years. "And when did your feelings develop from then?"

I had to think about that one. "There wasn't exactly a time I started loving her. It was a gradual thing, and I guess it started growing from the first day. The first time I realised what my feelings were, Rose mentioned Ivan Zeklos- my charge that was killed. She understood that I blamed myself, missed him, and that was why I put a guard up against the world. It shocked me that she could see that at all- nobody had ever seen that before.  
Then one day we had finished training and Rose's hands were injured. We had a conversation about my family, and I told her things I've never been comfortable telling anyone else before." I smiled, remembering those days beck when we were first falling in love.

Abe looked satisfied with that, almost indulgent in my romanticisms, but Janine did not.  
"These feelings are all very well and good, but when did you act on them?" Awkward question time.

"You know about the necklace Viktor Dashkov gave Rose, that made her attack me?"  
She nodded, but looked confused as to what this had to do with the story.

"Well, to protect Rose, we agreed that we should... change the version of events a little. The necklace was a lust charm." I finished quickly.

Janine blinked a few times, before a familiar fire kindled in her eyes.  
"Belikov, you better not be trying to tell me that you slept with my daughter whilst both under influence of compulsion and didn't report it."

Abe glared too. I held my ground, trying not to cringe away from them.  
"No, no. I didn't sleep with her. I realised that something wasn't right and I was able to break the spell by removing the necklace. After that, we went straight to the Guardians."

They looked mildly relieved. I was glad I'd left out the exact reason _why_ I'd been taking Rose's jewellery off, or the fact it hadn't stopped as soon as I'd removed it.  
"But something happened?" She pressed.

"We kissed for a while, until I realised something was off." Yeah, kissed naked.

Janine leant forward.  
"And when was the next time something like this happened?"

"Just before the ski trip, in the gym, Rose kissed me. But we had a sort of fight, I guess, and afterwards, we didn't talk for a few days. But when I thought all that was resolved, over Christmas, she still couldn't look me in the eye. Later, I found out it was because she knew about Natasha Ozera's offer."

Janine looked guilty. "I was the one who told her about that, on Christmas day. I mentioned that Natasha was interested in having you as... more than a Guardian, and how she was willing to have Dhampir children."

So that was how Roza found out. I pushed my annoyance down as Abe asked another question.  
"Did you ever consider taking her up on that offer?"

I wasn't really sure how to answer this.  
"I considered leaving to become her Guardian, and letting Rose have a chance at life without me, and I did think about the other... opportunities she had offered me. But I never saw Tasha as anything more than a friend, and I soon realised that nobody could ever replace Rose.  
Rose did talk to me, and she told me I should take Tasha's offer, before going to break up with Mason, as she'd seen that it was unfair to lead him on when she didn't feel the same way, even if it meant she ended up alone. After she said that, I realised that whatever doubts I'd had about Rose's maturity on the issue of us were taken away. She left to find Mason, and then disappeared. When I saw her in Spokane, protecting his body, I was more afraid than I'd ever been in my life. I knew it was pointless to pretend that I could ever put a Moroi life before hers, and we decided that after graduation, we'd try and make it work, even if it meant me getting reassigned.

Janine had an almost... soft look on her face, and both she and Abe looked relieved.  
"So, nothing happened before graduation then?" Abe clarified.

I hesitated just a moment too long. Abe's fingers tightened around the gun.  
"Belikov..." He growled, and I suddenly pitied every poor soul that had dared cross Abe Mazur.

Janine shot him a look obviously telling him to be quiet.  
"When, Belikov? I'm not stupid, I know she must have been underage."

"The night before the attack- after the fight with Jesse Zeklos." I spat out the name with disgust. "She was being controlled by the darkness, and I was the one supposed to help her break it."

"Why?" Janine asked simply.

" When she was finally free, she was upset. It broke my heart to see her broken like that, so scared of what she would become. She was sure she couldn't do it without me. I promised that I'd always be there for her, that I'd never let anything happen to her." Deep breath. "After everything Rose had gone through the last through months, watching her struggle through, it made me realise just how much she meant to me. It changed everything, and whatever others might think about it, nothing would change the truth. I love her, and I didn't want to keep pretending like I didn't. She felt the same way, and that was all that mattered. As long as we had each other, that was all that mattered."

They were silent for a minute, processing what I had just said.  
When Janine spoke, it was quiet, just above a whisper.  
"You really love her, don't you."

It wasn't a question, but a statement. I tried not to be offended that Janine had ever thought any different. I knew how it must have looked through her eyes.  
"I do. More than anything." I could have said a thousand words, given a thousand reasons why. But it would never be enough, and in the end, it all came down to that.

She nodded, once, and looked at Abe. A message seemed to pass between them, and he stood up, hand outstretched.  
"Okay then Belikov. I guess I won't have to kill you."

I shook his hand, but he pulled me closer.  
"But hurt my daughter, and there is nowhere in the world you can hide from me."

"Yes, sir."

He released my hand, grinning.  
"Let's get back to the lodge. There are no deer here and this sun is roasting me alive. That, and I'd like to get to know the newest member of the family a little better, and I don't want to be sitting on a log for the rest of the afternoon."

* * *

**Dimitri will be returning home in the next chapter (or will he?), after we see how Rose is getting on without him.**

_**Just a mini-rant, since the part about Rose making cereal made me think of it. I'd always wanted to try froot loops, & in Barbados, I did. & I loved them. Since returning to England, I found that they were on sale here, limited edition. When I opened them today, I found that they only contained orange, green & purple ones, that look really washed-out. They literally taste like plain Cheerios with a bit of food colouring. I'm so annoyed :(  
Remember when travelling here: **__**England has rubbish cereal. They make them all HEALTHY.**_

**Sorry about that, and back to relevant things. Review and see Dimitri wearing a shoulder holster. *drools & faints* **


	12. Chapter 12

**Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh so many reviews! *mini fangirl-type squeal*. (should have mentioned food or being English earlier :P) Thank you! Because I love you all so much I'll reply to your review at the end of the chapter :)  
But other than that, on with the chapter.**

**I DON'T OWN VA**

* * *

**RPOV**

Lissa and I were laying stretched out on the sofa, each of us resting our head on one of the arms.  
We were watching some ridiculous chick flick that I didn't even know the name of, but it was Lissa's turn to choose the movie, and it wasn't like I was really focusing on the film anyway.

I'd spoken to Eddie today, the first time I'd seen him since I'd got back. He told me that he'd spent the last week doing tests for the Guardians, trying to apply for a permanent position for the Royal Guard. Due to all his previous misdemeanours, he'd been psycho-analysed and tested in every possible scenario to make sure he was suitable. This morning, he had officially been given a place in Lissa's private Guard. A low-ranking member, yes, but with room for improvement and promotion. He was thrilled, as were the rest of us.

I was about to put another spoonful of Ben and Jerry's into my mouth when I heard a door slam.  
I jumped, spilling ice cream, and sat up, trying to see who it was.

It was just one of Lissa's Guardians, who had replaced me on duty today.

I settled back down, annoying Lissa.  
"Rose, you kicked me in the face!" She complained.

"Sorry Liss."  
I wriggled around, trying to get comfortable again.

After a moment, Lissa sat up and faced me.  
"It's Dimitri, isn't it?"

My face said it all.

"Look, Rose. You know they won't really hurt him, right?"

I sighed. "I know. But still. Out in the middle of nowhere, at night, anything could happen."

The look on Lissa's face told me how utterly ridiculous I was being. Yeah, 2 of the world's best Guardians, and _Zmey_. If any Strigoi tried to take on those 3, they'd be the ones running for their lives.  
"I just miss him already. We haven't been apart like this since we got back together again. And I haven't slept alone since then either." I checked the clock, noticing it was almost time for bed now. "I never thought I'd feel this dependant on a guy, but well..."

Lissa moved to sit close beside me.  
"I know, Rose. It's the same with Christian and I, and we haven't been through nearly as much as you guys. If I ever lost him, and was fortunate enough to get him back, I wouldn't let him out of my sight. It doesn't make you any weaker."

I hugged her, and was glad to feel like I had my best friend back again. With all that had been going on lately, I kind of felt like she had been slipping away. But she was still the same Lissa.

"If you want, I'll come sleep in your room tonight. Or come to mine- I'll kick Christian out and we can have a girly sleepover."

I grinned. "Well, if it's a girly sleepover, why are you kicking Christian out? He once said it would be fun to do each other's hair, pick out curtains and tell ghost stories. After the screwed up field experience, we never got the chance."

Lissa rolled her eyes and pressed play on the remote, ignoring me and focusing her attention back on the screen. I picked up the tub of ice cream, and continued on my mission to reach the bottom before the credits came onto the screen.

* * *

True to her word, Lissa did try to throw Christian out of their room. But he kicked up such a fuss that she ended up walking out and leaving him there and sleeping at mine, without giving him so much as a goodnight kiss.

"That's it, Liss. Gotta keep your pets knowing who's boss."

Lissa giggled. "Is that what you have to do with Dimitri?"

"Nope. He knows his place, and that I am the one in charge of our relationship. Of course, to save his male pride I let him think that he has a choice in things. Sometimes I let him come out on top." I winked.

Lissa outright laughed at that.  
"6 months ago, I never thought that I'd be joking and laughing about Guardian Belikov's sex life. I doubt you did either."

"Liss, I know Christian isn't exactly comparable with Dimitri, but let me tell you this. When sex and Dimitri are involved, laughing does not make the top 10 list of most common sounds made. Moaning, screaming-"

Lissa cut me off with her laughter. I looked at her weirdly for an explanation.

"I just got the strangest mental image of you and Dimitri doing it whilst laughing uncontrollably."

I blinked a few times.  
"Okaaay. That sounds like something I would say."  
But now she had said it, it made me laugh as well. "But you're right, that would be funny."

The next few hours went pretty much like that, just messing around, gossiping, and generally reconnecting with my best friend. She wasn't the Queen, and I wasn't her Guardian, we were just a couple of teenage girls ignoring our responsibilities for one night. Even when discussing Jill, the conversation was light.

In my absence, Lissa had spent more time getting to know her half-sister, and was finally getting past the uneasy feelings surrounding the circumstances of Jill's birth. She was a loveable girl, and even her father's infidelity and deceit couldn't mask that.

Last week, Jill and her family had been moved to a secure location, where Jill would be attending human school for a few years. She really wasn't ready for Royal life, or prepared for the manipulation of the Royals. Lissa wanted to give her a few more years of childhood before she had to worry about any of her responsibilities- she still had a few years before she took up the title of 'Princess Dragomir.'  
Lissa had convinced the Council that this was the best way forward by pointing out that until the laws regarding family were changed, the safest place for Jill would be in hiding. They had agreed, and so she was spared from the Royal wolves. For now, at least.

We talked for hours, but eventually, our conversation slowed down and the tiredness crept in.  
Around 3am we finally decided to go to sleep. Lissa unrolled her sleeping bag on the floor.  
"Are you sure you don't mind sleeping on the floor? You can share the bed with me if you want." I offered generously.

Lissa wrinkled her nose. "No, thanks. I know what happens in that bed."

I grinned. "What makes you think the floor is any safer?"

She grimaced. "Really, Rose?"

I shrugged. "Dimitri's a big guy. Sometimes the bed just isn't big enough, so we have to find a larger surface."

"I'm just gonna pretend I didn't know that. Honestly, do you two ever stop?"

I thought about that for a minute. "Nope. But we have those first 6 months to make up for. Some people can't just escape to a church attic when we feel like it."

"Whatever. You had the cabin."

I felt a goofy grin cross my face at the memory. "Yeah." I sighed. "Hey, Liss- we all had our first times at St. Vlads!"

She smiled for a moment before it faded away. "Yeah, but I wish I'd waited for mine."

I leaned up on my elbows and looked down at her. "Well, when you with Aaron, it only lasted like, 5 minutes, right?"  
She nodded.  
"Exactly. So that hardly counts. And from what you told me, he didn't even-"

"La la yeaugh. I don't even want to remember. But you're right." She reached up and took my hand that was dangling over the edge of the bed. "Thanks, Rose. You always make everything seem better."

I squeezed her hand in response. "That's my job, Liss. As your Guardian, best friend, and sister. And anyway, you do the same thing for me. Dimitri wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for your bravery."

"Sometimes even Guardians need a little help." Was her reply, before she drifted off to sleep.

Snuggling down deeper into my blankets. In fact, my having my own pillow was a bit of a novelty for me now. Normally I just rested my head against his chest or shoulder.

Thinking of this made me feel even lonelier, I grabbed Dimitri's pillow and shirt from his side of the bed. I slipped the shirt over my tank top and hugged the pillow tightly. Burying my face in it, I breathed in the scent of his aftershave and just _him_ that still lingered on it.

Tomorrow, he'd be back again, and everything would be fine.  
And if he wasn't absolutely perfect... well, not even Lissa's compulsion would be able to stop me from dismembering my parents.

Crap, I really was _Zmey's_ daughter.

**DPOV**

The remainder of the trip was surprisingly un-awkward, and I even found myself enjoying it a little bit.  
I had always liked Janine as a colleague, on the rare occasions she lightened up enough to talk about anything other than work, and I had a healthy respect for both of them. When it came down to it, the two of them reminded me too much of Rose not to like them.

Right now, sitting in the car on the way back, it was like watching the 2 sides of Rose's personality conflicting.

This time, I was sitting by the window, Janine sat in the middle, and Abe sat on her other side. It was amusing to watch him antagonise her. What wasn't so fun was when Abe tried to get me to join him and gang up on her.  
"What do you think, Dimitri? I personally think Janine becoming my Guardian would be the perfect setup."

Janine crossed her arms defensively, just like Rose did.  
"Of course it's 'perfect', because it's your idea and it's what you want." She said drily.

"See? You do understand. Dimitri, surely you can see the advantages of having a Guardian that understands me perfectly, spends most of her time with me, and is genuinely concerned about my wellbeing?"

I couldn't stay quiet under his expectant stare.  
"Well, those would be advantageous..." Now Janine turned to glare at me. "But there may be some disadvantages..."

Abe waited for me to explain.  
"Like the fact that if Janine is as irritated by you as she is now and there is an attack, she could hand you over and demand payment for the favour."

Janine smirked and Abe laughed.  
"You know, I like you Dimitri. You think like I do."

Well wasn't that a thought.

**RPOV**

I woke up that morning to find the bed cold beside me, though I could hear someone moving around inside the room.  
"Dimitri?" I mumbled, rolling over and throwing my arm over my eyes.

It was promptly removed, and my eyes flew open to see who dared interrupt my gradual wake-up.  
"Nope. It's me!" Lissa said brightly, her jade green eyes way too open and sparkly for this early in the morning.

I groaned and rolled over again. "You're not Dimitri. Go away."

Lissa huffed. "Charming. Good morning to you too, Rose. So I'm not good enough for you now?"

I sighed in defeat, rolling back over.  
"You're not sexy enough."

She gasped in mock hurt. "I'm _not sexy enough?" _She repeated angrily.

"Not to me, anyway. You lack a vital part of the anatomy that I require people have before calling them sexy."

Lissa rolled her eyes, pulling the covers away.  
"Well, it's good that Dimitri will be back soon, then. You should get ready."

I shot up, trying to get out of bed without getting too tangled up in the blankets.  
"I'm going."

**DPOV**

We pulled through the gates of Court about 2 hours later. I walked fast up to our apartment, followed by Abe and Janine.

I had just reached to get my keys from my pocket when the door flew open, and I was pulled inside.  
I had just enough time to open my arms before Rose jumped at me, throwing her arms around my neck.

Luckily, I caught her, and she leaned back in my arms, scrutinising my face. Rose then ran her hands over my arms and chest, as if checking for injuries, which I then realised she was.  
"So you're still in one piece?" She asked sceptically.

"Yes, Rose. I'm fine."

She smiled. "That's alright then."  
And then she kissed me, and I responded eagerly. Even one night apart had been too long.

Someone cleared their throat from the hallway, and we broke apart.

"Little girl, I'm offended that you honestly think I would have hurt him."

Rose shrugged. "You can forgive me for thinking that, given your chosen line of work."

Janine scowled. "Yes, but couldn't you wait until after we left for _that?" _She indicated where Rose still clung to me, and she reluctantly let go.

"No, it couldn't wait. If you were already gone, I wouldn't be able to fulfil my promise if you _had_ done something to him."

Abe smirked. "So that was a medical assessment?"

Rose nodded sincerely. "Yes, I was making fully sure that nothing was missing."  
I caught the double entendre in her words, which made me feel about as uncomfortable as Janine looked. Abe, however, just smiled.

"Of course. I wouldn't have expected anything different."

We were saved from further awkward conversation by Christian coming out of the shared kitchen.  
"Oh, hey, my Guardian's still alive. He really is the best."

"Believe me, I know." Rose added.

Janine gave an exasperated sigh.  
"We're going now. It was nice to talk to you Dimitri, but there are certain things I don't want to know."  
With that she left, and Rose stifled a laugh.

Abe smiled amicably. "We'll have to do that again sometime, Dimitri, but drop Janine. Have a boys day."  
He turned to Christian. "Maybe you'd like to join us?"

Christian looked horrified, which made Abe laugh.  
"See you soon. I'd better go see where she's got to..."  
With that, he left, leaving a strange silence behind.

Rose looked up at me.  
"We have a few hours before our shift starts. Want to go continue where we left off?" She asked.  
Well, how could I refuse?

* * *

**Ok, reviewers, here we go...**

**curligurl0896- ****Yeah, I think this was the first time I mentioned it. I've never been to America, but I want to :) I've never seen the Doctor (any of them) or Harry Potter, but I did kinda bump into Ron Weasley once :D And the stereotype isn't actually that bad, sometimes we just like to mess with you when you come over by bringing it up :P But I gotta say, I sooo want to try Hot Glazed Krispy Kreme, a Snowcone, Saltwater Taffy and New York Cheesecake. Oh, and that cheese in a can! Yeah, forget Americans, I have a bit of a thing for junk food... So **

**cmarseilles- ****Thanks! Glad you like it.**

**Genesis Chi- ****Thanks, I'm glad it worked. And I'm not sure what they were like 5 years ago, but I agree- not they are just really mushy and boring :(**

**Gracefish21- ****Thanks :)**

**Mori Belicov Hathaway- ****Seriously!? That's so awesome! I want one...**

**PiesandStuff- ****Yeah, I couldn't kill Dimitri. That would be like... well, just awful! By the way, love your name.**

**Dimka's chick- ****Abe is freaking awesome. I think he's got quite a good part in The Fiery Heart judging by the quotes I've found. Can't wait!**

**Readingaccict-loverA- ****Glad you like them! And there's lots more where these came from.**

**Amanda- ****Thanks :) Couldn't do this one, but keep the suggestions coming. I'll see what I can do.**

* * *

**So thanks to everyone else who reviewed before this chapter, sorry if I missed you off this.**

**Review and you can 'check' Dimitri for 'injuries' ;)**


	13. Chapter 13

**We're coming to the end, people. This is the third to last chapter :O Just the final ends to tie up now.**

**Enjoy!**

**Me no ownie VA :(**

* * *

**RPOV**

A week passed without event. I guarded Lissa, hung out with my friends, and just spent time with Dimitri. It was great.

Eddie was getting used to his new position in Lissa's private guard, and people were actually starting to accept him again. He looked up to Dimitri as a role model more than ever, and it was cute in a weird way to watch. Dimitri moved to stand a little straighter- Eddie would immediately correct his on posture.  
When I teased him about it, Eddie just raised an eyebrow at me, making me laugh even more at the Dimitri-like response.

I'd spent quite a bit of time with my mom as well, and she had confided in me that she was thinking of taking up Abe's offer, and becoming his Guardian. She'd been on leave these last few weeks as I recovered, but now I was completely healed, Lord Szelsky wanted her back- for good.

She said that she didn't want to leave me after spending so long apart, that she wanted us to be closer now that she was "getting used to the other one", by which she meant Dimitri. But I was pretty sure there was another reason she wanted to stay.

Whilst around Court, and especially whilst I was away in Russia, my parents had been spending a lot of time together. I didn't know any details, and honestly didn't want to, but I got the impression that some old flames were re-kindling, or at least sparks flying. Mom insisted that they were just friends, and that they probably seemed close because of what they shared- me. But the way mom's eyes always travelled to Abe when he wasn't looking, or how he followed her around like a lost puppy, it was clear there was something more.

I mean- _Zmey_ following _anyone_ around in a non-staler-I'm-going-to-kill-you way had to mean something pretty special, right?

Christian and I had a small bet going as to how long it would be before 1) she took up his offer and 2) how long it took them to get together.  
Christian bet 6 months, I bet 6 weeks. After all, Hathaways are not known for their self-control or patience, and Abe was pretty famous for getting what he wants with a snap of his fingers.  
They probably wouldn't even make 6 weeks.

So really, everything was pretty much perfect, if uneventful.  
However, that was going to change sooner than I'd thought.

* * *

Early on Saturday morning, the door flew open, and I shot up, Dimitri doing the same beside me. In the same second we were armed with stakes, and were about to jump out of bed and confront whatever threat was approaching.

But when I forced my sleepy eyes open, they focussed on Lissa smiling sheepishly in the doorway.  
"I'm sorry, didn't mean to scare you guys. Everything's fine." She assured us, and I slumped back against the headboard. Dimitri relaxed, but didn't put his stake down yet.

"If everything's fine, then why come in here and wake us up? You know I have issues with mornings."

"Sorry." Lissa repeated as she tiptoed towards us. Why? We were already awake now.  
She sat down on the bed, and I noticed that she was already dressed in black slacks and a pink blouse- Queenly casual wear. That reminded me of the fact that I was only wearing one of Dimitri's T-shirts, and he was only in boxers. Lissa didn't seem fazed by it, though.

"I thought you'd want to know as soon as possible. I just woke up from a Spirit-dream with Adrian. He's coming to Court."

I didn't have time to analyse the swirling mix of emotions in my stomach before she spoke again. "Today."

That woke me up fully, and after glancing at the clock I swore loudly.  
"When, exactly?" I demanded.

"Uh, around 12:00. I suggested we all go out for lunch."  
Was I still asleep, in some kind of weird dream? I sincerely hoped so.

"You what?" I asked incredulously, unable to believe that my best friend who knew me better than almost anyone, had dragged me into this. "Are you actually serious? I think you're forgetting that he hates me, and with good reason. And I'm pretty sure he's not going to be too chummy with Dimitri, either." The aforementioned man had been quiet through all of this, which I envied.

Lissa sighed. "He just told me that he wanted to talk to you. He didn't seem upset, or angry, he seemed... stable. More so than I've ever seen him. I think he's over you now, and that's why it's okay for him to come back to Court again."  
Adrian, stable? That was something new, and unbelievable.

"You make it sound as if it's permanent."

"It is, pretty much. He's moving back here, he always intended to, but he just had to 'get things straight with himself', and now he's back for good."

I blew a strand of hair out of my eyes, contemplating everything that Lissa had just told me. Could she be right? Was Adrian really over me now, and ready to move on with his life, enough so to do that right in front of me? If so, he was stronger than I had given him credit for.  
"He's really alright now? He seemed fine?"

Lissa nodded. "His aura was completely clear, and he was acting like he used to way back. Same old Adrian, but somehow, even better."  
I smiled ruefully. If this was true, it was better than I'd ever hoped for. "I've missed having him around. I just hope we can be friends after all of this."

If Dimitri was at all jealous, he didn't show it. Speaking for the first time, wrapped an arm around me, rubbing my shoulder.  
"It'll be alright, Rose. He still cares about you, just in the right way now. Whatever he said before, when he was hurting, he's still your friend. Nothing can change that."  
It meant a lot to me that Dimitri thought that- most guys would have a fit of jealousy, even if it wasn't needed. I leaned into Dimitri's shoulder and Lissa smiled at us.  
"Dimitri's right. Why else would Adrian come back? It's not like he's returning for his family's sake."

Daniella still had a few months in prison, and Nathan was still as much of a dick as he always was. Some things would never change, as much as the world moved on around them.

Could Adrian really have forgiven me, after what I had done to him, the pain I had put him through? I hoped so. I really did miss him as a friend. Despite everything, he had always been there for me, when even Lissa had turned her back. He was truly an amazing guy, just not the right one for me.  
"Thanks for letting me know, Liss. We'll be there for lunch."

Despite their assurances, I was still uncertain as to whether Adrian really could have forgiven me. As I walked towards our favourite cafe, I found myself gripping Dimitri's hand a little tighter than usual.  
When we entered the coffee shop, my eyes went straight to the big table at the back- our usual spot. Lissa, Christian, Mia and Eddie were in their usual seats, but there was one extra person to usual.  
My stomach did a funny flip as I saw familiar dark, gelled, messy hair. I fought to put my Guardian mask up, then cover that with a smile that I hoped looked genuine.

Lissa looked up and saw us, and a few seconds later Adrian turned around.  
His face lit up in his trademark cocky grin.  
"Hey there, Little Dhampir. Still can't arrive on time, I see." Nodding a greeting, he addressed Dimitri. "Belikov."

There was no malice or mocking in his voice, no pain in his eyes, and the smile he wore was genuine. He really was over me. And I was so, so happy for him. I let the mask drop, and a genuine smile slid into place on my lips.

"Still stating the obvious, I see." I replied, before reaching the table.

Adrian got up, and I stood there in front of him for a moment, assessing him. He looked good, healthier than I'd ever seen him before, and I could barely smell any evidence of his usual vices.

A second later, I moved.  
I reached up and pulled Adrian into a huge hug, which he returned wholeheartedly.  
"I missed you, Adrian." I told him sincerely.

"You too, Rose. But, I needed some time away from it all. And it worked."

I pulled away, and matched his smile with one of my own. We really could move on from everything, and leave the past in the past. I could tell we had some talking to do before this was really over, but this was enough for now.

It was just like old times. Adrian and I ganging up on Christian, Lissa telling us to stop, Mia and Eddie occasionally commenting, and Dimitri observing everything with a small, contented smile on his face. It was perfect.  
Before we left to go our separate ways, Adrian told me to meet him at his room at around 5. I agreed, and we all left the cafe.

* * *

By the time 5 O'clock rolled around, I was getting pretty desperate to talk to Adrian. I had to apologise again for what I'd done, and I genuinely was really curious to know how he'd got over me, and how he'd been lately.

When I met Adrian outside his room, he suggested we go for a walk through the Court gardens, and I agreed. As soon as we were out of guest housing, and the earshot of nosy Moroi, I started.  
"Adrian, I'm so, sorry for what I did. It was terrible, and I hate myself for doing that to you. It was never my intention..." I rambled on a little more before he stopped me.

"Rose, it's alright. You don't have to feel so bad. I mean, yeah, it hurt at the time, but I made my fair share of mistakes, too. I knew you weren't ready for another relationship so soon after Dimitri, and even though I didn't want to admit it to myself, you really were perfect for each other. I knew I never had a chance, and I let my feelings for you cloud my judgement when you agreed to give me one. I didn't mean what I said to you, that was way out of line. I'm sorry."

"No, you had every right to tell me that."

"I didn't. You said everything in the nicest way possible. You could have been all like 'Get over it, Adrian. I love him, not you, I only went out with you because you stalked me for so long and I felt sorry for hoe pathetic you are." And even though that's kinda how I saw it at the time, I realised pretty soon it wasn't. You genuinely cared about me, and everything you said was true."

I took a moment to process what he was saying. There was a hidden meaning in his words.

"Everything?" I asked sceptically.

"Everything." Adrian grinned.

I felt a smile cross my own face as my suspicions were confirmed. "So who's the lucky girl? Do I get to meet her?"  
"She's here at Court with me now. And it's just like you said, about how she makes me a better person, not just for her, but for myself. She makes me stronger and-"  
Adrian was cut off as I heard someone say my name behind me. His face broke into a smile.

"Rose?"

I turned around.

* * *

**! ! ! Only 2 more chapters left after this ! ! ! But don't worry, I have a sequel ready to go. Several, actually. As in like 200 000 words altogether :)**

**Musicalroza999**-**Don't worry, I have seen Doctor Who. Not the latest series though- I don't like the new Doctor. David Tennant can never be replaced :'(. And I can totally see what you mean about the quote. It would be hilarious :p. What was your favourite monster/enemy? I love the Judoon, and the Adipose. They're so cute! But the werewolf was pretty awesome too. **

**Rose-loves-Dimitri- I know! He's the best. Better than Harry :p He's such a ninja. A ginger ninja! Hermoine is lucky... I was so hapy when they got together :D**

**Review and wake up to Dimitri's smiling face :D**


	14. Chapter 14

**FANGIRLING SO HARD RIGHT NOW! They've announced who is playing Kirova (who is, by the way, 34 and pretty :3) in Blood Sisters, and Richelle says they're saying who's playing Christian soon! And that they have most of the cast ready! They start filming it THIS MONTH! In the UK! I knew that someday something would make me declare my love for my country to hundreds of foreign strangers!  
I may have to pay a visit to the place they end up filming it- Dimitri on English soil? I cannot miss this! **

***Deep breath* I'm okay now. I think. On with the update. This is the second-to-last chapter.**

**I DON'T OWN VAMPIRE ACADEMY. IT BELONGS TO RICHELLE MEAD.**

* * *

_I turned around. _

"Sydney?" I asked, squinting at the figure walking towards us against the light of the rising sun.

Sure enough, towards us came a petite blonde with amber eyes and a golden lily tattoo. Relief washed through me that she really was okay- the phone call I had received had been stressful, and I had been wondering how she was. I doubted the Alchemists would be very lenient on those that supported vampire 'murderers', even if they did later prove innocent.

Not caring whether she'd mind or not, I hugged her. To my surprise, she hugged me back.  
"When did you get here?" I asked incredulously.

"Earlier today, just before lunch." She replied.  
She must hate being at Court, surrounded by all us 'evil creatures of the night', but here she was, right in front of me.  
I stepped back, my gaze momentarily returning to Adrian, ready to introduce him to Sydney.

But there was no need. Adrian was already smiling at her, something in his eyes I couldn't quite place. Looking back at Sydney, she was gazing back at him, and when she saw me looking, a light blush spread over her cheeks.

Facts and clues slammed together in my mind, fitting together to form one crazy but completely unmistakable picture.  
_I arrived today. This guy was in bad shape- he begged me not to leave, 'not like her'. He's had a really tough time, and for a Royal Moroi, he isn't like the rest. __**She's with me now.**_

No way.

I was pretty sure my eyes bugged out of my head as I realised it, which must have tipped of Sydney and Adrian that I knew, as they moved a little closer together.

I stood blinking for a few seconds, reeling in shock and disbelief. It was while until I remembered how to speak. _Words. _

"WHAT?" Was my eloquent first reaction. Followed by a whole load of expletives that made Sydney cringe and even Adrian look away.

Once my outburst was over and I could think semi-coherently, I turned my attention and wrath to the Moroi standing in front of me.

"Adrian! Do you know how crazy this is? This is Sydney we're talking about! Alchemist, poster child for good girl Sydney!" I screeched, arms flailing as I gestured wildly.

When he leaned away from me, stepping closer to the human, I turned my attention to her.

"And Sydney, when I said go for it, I didn't know that the 'Royal Moroi' was Adrian! I'd never have said yes to that! He'll corrupt you! What will happen if the Alchemists find out? I thought I was the crazy one! You're so different- you're all pure and sensible and calm and clever and he's so crazy and scattered and _arty_ and..."

I trailed off, thinking over what I'd just said. The rage inside me died down as I took a deep breath, forcing myself to look at this as their friend, someone who had experience in forbidden relationships, and not as their mother. "And you're so perfect for each other!"

Their faces, which had started off as scared and defiant, morphed into shock and confusion, which was amplified as I grabbed them both and dragged them into a group hug.

"I'm so happy for you both! This is so perfect!" I shouted, absolutely elated. Who cares if people say this is wrong? If Adrian is finally happy, I'm happy. And if Sydney feels comfortable with this, even if years of taboo has been drilled into me making me feel a little creeped out, then I'll try to move past that. For them. After all, I knew better than most that sometimes the rules of our society were made to be broken. They _didn't_ always come first, so maybe human/vampire pairings didn't have to be wrong.

When I finally let go, Adrian was the first to regain his composure.  
"Thanks, Rose. I'm glad you didn't feel the need to kill me."

I dropped the smile and glared.  
"That could still happen. If you hurt her, you will wake up to find your man-parts missing from your body, and look out the window to see them nailed to a tree in the middle of Court with a flashing neon sign showing your name above them." I growled.

He looked a little scared. "Don't worry, no intention of that happening." He paused for a moment. "Did you learn your threats from your dad, or are they just inherited? Because he threatened me with something surprisingly similar."

I grinned, pleased that we could slip back into our old teasing roles so easily. "Just runs in the family. But unlike Abe, I can kick your ass as well as breaking your kneecaps and chopping your balls off."

* * *

By the end of the day, everyone in our group knew about Sydney and Adrian. Though they didn't know Sydney personally, I assured them that they really were perfect for each other.

I was a little surprised at which the ease they accepted the pair, or at least how well they hid their discomfort. I had to admit, it had shaken me pretty bad when we first met the Keepers. Though somehow, this wasn't as bad. Maybe because they were my friends, or there were no others outside the relationship, or because I knew there would be no sordid activities. No, Sydney would never be Adrian's blood whore or feeder, that was for sure. What they had was love, and who had the right to stand in teh way of that? Certainly not me. I would support them as they had supported me. That was what friends did.

But now they were together at Court, the secret wouldn't stay between our group for long, and when the truth came out, it wouldn't be pretty. Mia predicted that it would take rumours of 'Sydrian' about 3 days to circulate Court, and by the end of the month, the scandal would be all anyone talked about.  
I had to say I agreed with her, but being no stranger to gossip myself- on both ends- I knew it would all die down pretty soon. Moroi loved to talk, but that meant that news got stale quickly. There was always some new scandal, some other poor person the subject of the whispers that seem to come from everywhere.

Sydney was concerned about what Adrian's family would think, especially his father. Since he was high in Moroi society, he had a lot of influence, and could get Sydney shipped back to the Alchemists in a heartbeat, landing her in 're-education', whatever that was. I didn't like the sound of it, personally. School was bad enough the first time around, and I was pretty sure the Alchemist version would be a hell of a lot worse.

But as Sydney voiced her fears, Adrian took her hand and pulled her to him, promising that he would never let it come to that.

"I'll never let them take you, Sage. They'll have to come through me first, and I won't go down without a fight."

I stood up, moving to stand on Sydney's other side.  
"And me. Nobody screws with my friends without taking on me personally. You helped me escape the authorities- I'd do the same for you. Both of you. Whatever you need, I'll do everything within my power to get. And if that's not good enough, I'll call in a favour with the old man."

Sydney shivered as the mention of a favour to Abe. What was that about?

My inner musing was interrupted when Dimitri spoke.  
"I'm on your side too. I still owe you both for saving me and Rose, you have my support with this."

"And ours." Added Eddie. "All of us will fight for you."

There was a general murmur of agreement around the room. It was too much of a sweet moment for me to pass us the opportunity to ruin it.

"Alright, alright. Enough with the mushy stuff already. If we keep on like this, we'll be 'fighting' the rumours with Sydrian candy and throwing flowers at Strigoi! People might hear us and think we're going soft."

The moment ruined, everyone rolled their eyes and began to stand up.

"Right, well, I'm going home. This emotional stuff is all a bit much for me." Christian grumbled, pushing Lissa gently towards the door.

"Yeah, let's bail." I tugged on Dimitri's sleeve, pulling him out of the room. "S'laters people!"

We walked back to the Palace hand in hand, in no rush to get there. Lissa and Christian had practically run back there, so no doubt what they were doing right now.

We remained in a companionable silence most of the way back, each of us content just to be in the others company.

The silence was broken by a quiet laugh beside me.

"What?" I asked suspiciously, giving Dimitri a sidelong glance.

He shook his head. "Adrian and Sydney. It's just..."

"Crazy." I finished for him.

"Exactly. I mean, who saw that one coming?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeva. I bet this is the 'surprise' she was talking about."

Dimitri turned to me, smiling. "Or just one of many."

"There are more? Great, at this rate I'll be grey by the time I'm 30." Then I smirked. "But you'll be nearly 40 by then anyway, Grandpa."

Dimitri made a face, before looking up at the sky with a smirk. "You can't even drink for another 3 years."

I snorted. "Please, who even cares? I've been drinking since I was 13 anyway."

He apparently didn't have a comeback to that, and we had almost reached the Palace by now. Just before we got there, Dimitri pulled me aside. He looked down at me, expression soft.

"I'm so glad you don't have to hurt over Adrian anymore. I know how guilty you felt, but you did the right thing. If you hadn't ended it with him, then he would never have met Sydney and become the man he is today."

I raised my eyebrows. "And I wouldn't be with you."

He half-smiled. "Minor detail." After seeing the look on my face, he laughed and pulled me close. "I love you Roza, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. And I'm so proud of you."

I pressed my face against his chest. "I love you too. Thanks for putting up with me."

Dimitri sighed. "It's a hard job, but someone's got to do it."

"I'm glad that one is you." I replied as Dimitri stroked my hair.

"So am I Roza. So am I."

* * *

**Okay, one chapter left. Please help me reach 100 reviews for this story before it's over.**

**By the way- I thought it wasn't possible for Danila to look any hotter. But his hair has grown. And he does.**

**Review and Dimitri will fight for you :D**


	15. Chapter 15

**! ! !The last chapter! ! ! Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this story- you're all great :D**

That night, as I lay in bed with Dimitri, I felt completely at peace. It was like burden had dropped from my shoulders and I hadn't realise the full weight I was carrying before. Adrian's parting words about 'the next time I was in bed with Belikov' did not plague me, as all the loose ends had been tied up in the best way possible, and all the 'collateral damage' was fixed. Jill was safe and happy, Eddie had a great assignment, Sydney was no longer trapped under the Alchemists' punishment, and Adrian's broken heart had been mended.

And as for me; I had Dimitri back, the bullet wounds were healing, and even the shock of Tasha's betrayal seemed to be fading. Together, we were fighting the demons that had threatened to tear us apart, and we were winning. Everything was perfect.

I didn't realise I had spoken the last part out loud until Dimitri replied, "Almost."

I tilted my head up to see him smiling at me- a full, beautiful smile that had used to be so rare, but that I now saw a lot of. But it still melted my heart, and I was still the only one who could put that smile there.

I leaned up and kissed him, a smile of my own forming against his satin lips.  
With the smallest possible distance between us, I breathed "_this_ is perfection."

After everything we had been through, we'd come out the other side fighting. We'd lost some people along the way, and were a little scarred. But now, life was better than I ever imagined it could be.

And this was only the beginning.

* * *

**That's the end, people :') But it is also just the beginning ;) Keep an eye out for the next instalment in the ALS series- '****ALS 1.25- The Mission****'.  
It won't be as long as this story, probably just a few chapters, because it's just about a single event that happens at Court, which is why it will be called 'ALS 1.25' not 'ALS 2'. But don't worry, ALS 2 is in production, and it's already longer than this one.**

**Review and have a perfect moment with Dimitri :)**

**So until ALS 1.25, S'laters! x**


	16. VERY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE

First I would like to say that if anyone feels that I have copied their story, please tell me via review now. I cannot turn on PM for personal reasons that really shouldn't matter to anyone. That's my choice.

To the person that reviewed 6 times to accuse me of plagiarism. I'm not going to get in a rage over this, though I want to. I just want you to know that I am hurt and offended that you would accuse me of plagiarism. I can solemnly swear that it isn't true. It isn't nice being accused of something untrue isn't nice. I have not copied any other author's work.

To anyone who might believe that this story has been 'stolen' from some other author.

Firstly, because as any author knows, plagiarism is wrong, and is horrible for those whose story has been ripped off.

Second- I can't even find the existence of 2 authors that I have supposedly 'stolen from', and the other has no story that I have found that relates to my own.

Third- This story 'Next Generation- Change' is based off my own life. 'Anya' is me, 'Sophia' is my friend V, 'Marina' is my friend N, and 'Lily' is my friend M. 'Aleks' is based on a guy called 'A', and our relationship is very similar to what is described in the story.  
I didn't want to have to say this, since it should be irrelevant that this story is based off my own life story, but there it is. Due to this false allegation, I have been forced to reveal this.

Fourth- I know that there are several 'next generation' stories out there surrounding Rose and Dimitri's child/ren, but this does not mean I am copying them. In a fandom this size, it is bound to happen. Just like there are hundreds of 'reading the books', 'Dimitri leaves Rose for Tasha' and 'alternate ending to Shadow Kiss' stories.

Accusing someone of plagiarism is very damaging to an author's reputation, and in the past I have felt sorry for those I have seen accused of this.

To my loyal readers- please do not believe these claims that I am a fraud. It hurts me that my stories- my escape when the world feels like it is falling in around me- are being targeted.

If you have any concerns that I have taken any story ideas from other author or even yourself, please leave a review and I will reply. However, I am confident that nobody will have any issues. If there is ANY similarity at all between my story and somebody else's, I can assure you all that it is purely coincidental. Tell me and I will resolve any issues the best I can.

I am sorry for any confusion or hurt that this has caused anyone. I can assure you that I am feeling that way personally. I pride myself on my integrity, morals and honesty in life, and this false allegation is breaking all of those personal values I hold for myself.

Loyal readers, please support me in this. I am worried that this might become more serious, and that my place in this community of fellow writers is at risk. After all- we have all been brought here by our love for this series and the characters within it. I would never insult another author, or the characters, or Richelle Mead by breaking any rules or taking away something that other authors have slaved over and loved. I love my stories dearly, and they truly are a part of me. I would never try to take that away from somebody else.

Thank you for reading this. ~ Dimitri's . Smexi . Shewolf


	17. Another Author's Note

Thank you so much to everyone who is standing by me with this. I admit that I feel pretty rubbish at the moment, having my story Next Generation: Change, and myself, under scrutiny like this. I feel physically sick whenever I think about it.

After re-reading the reviews I got informing me of my 'blatant plagiarism', I have found that the 'story' I have apparently copied from is actually a Next Generation Role-Play.

I can hand-on-heart say that it is impossible for me to have copied this story, even subconsciously, since I have never taken part in or read a role play, Vampire Academy or otherwise. I didn't even realise they existed until a couple of weeks ago, when this story was already nearly finished (I started writing it on New Years Day). I have no inclination to look at these role plays, much less steal from them, as personally the concept doesn't appeal to me. I read fanfic, I write stories, and that's it.

The author whose role-play I have been accused of stealing belongs to Samwysesr, and she has a very clear warning on her profile about what will happen to plagiarists. The reviewer who accused me said that she had contacted this author to inform them of the alleged plagiarism. I am quite a paranoid person and am known for being a terrible worrier, and hate getting in any kind of trouble. I don't cope well in these situations, and have to say I am taking this hard. I'm afraid of getting my stories taken down, account deleted and everything else bad that happens to alleged 'plagiarists'. I know I have nothing to hide and that this story is completely my own, but it is in my nature to always think the worst.

I will be PMing the author I allegedly stole off to try and sort this out, I already reviewed their story to explain yesterday, and hopefully they will understand that I have done nothing wrong. I hope that by explaining myself, this will all work out alright.

However, for now, I'm so sorry to say that I won't be updating any of my existing stories, or putting up new ones. I'm not even sure if I'll ever get this sorted (there's my pessimism showing through). I won't add anything new to my stories in case my account gets taken away- I would lose enough as it is.

I hope that everything can be resolved soon, and that I'll be able to reward you for your patience with a flood of updates in the near future.

Thank you so much to those of you are supporting me with this- please look out for updates what is happening. Please stay in touch via reviews- I feel alone in this, but your support is helping me so much. I hope everything will be alright and I can remain on this site with you great people.

Just to reiterate, the story under scrutiny is 'Next Generation: Change'. I am posting these notes on 3 different stories so I can alert as many of my reader as possible to what is happening, as I know you don't all read all of my stories.

As much as I hate authors notes, I'll probably have another one for you soon. Hopefully with good news. Please bear with me on this, and your patience will be rewarded with lots of new chapters and stories. Until then, stay with me, and keep an eye out for updates.

Thank you, ~ Dimitri's . Smexi . Shewolf x

P.S- Emilie Brown- Thanks for your offer; I'd love to discuss having a cover made once this has all died down and if the future of my stories is secure again.


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